Skip to main content
The Morning Star Shop
Why we need to talk about toilets
Today, on World Toilet Day it’s time to say passengers and staff on Britain’s trains deserve decent facilities, writes MICK WHELAN of Aslef

THE lack of access to safe, clean and appropriate toilet facilities and the lack of opportunities for staff to access them during their working day, is a real problem on the railway.

It’s an occupational health and safety issue. But it’s also a public health issue and an issue of basic human rights.

Workers who cannot access proper toilet facilities, or are not given the time by employers to do so, are forced to urinate in public areas, defecate in the open, use inappropriate containers, or even, on occasion, soil their clothes or seat.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Train drivers from the Aslef union on the picket line at Euston station in London, as they are launching a wave of fresh walkouts in a long-running dispute over pay. Train drivers at 16 rail companies are holding a rolling programme of one-day walkouts between April 5 and 8, coupled with a six-day ban on overtime. Picture date: Friday April 5, 2024
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work

Train drivers from the Aslef union on the picket line at Euston station in London, April 5, 2024
Features / 19 July 2025
19 July 2025

As the labour movement meets to remember the Tolpuddle Martyrs, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of train drivers’ union Aslef, says it’s an appropriate moment to remind the Labour government to listen to the trade unions a little more

TUC 2024 / 9 September 2024
9 September 2024
Aslef general secretary MICK WHELAN writes for the Morning Star on the eve of the TUC in Brighton, about the pay offer from the DfT, relations with the Labour government, and the union’s motion at Congress calling for the renationalisation of rail freight
Pipe bands and banners parade through Durham during the Durh
Durham Miners' Gala / 13 July 2024
13 July 2024
MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ trade union, writes for the Morning Star as union activists prepare to march through Durham today in a display of working-class solidarity at the 138th Durham Miners’ Gala
Similar stories
Train drivers from the Aslef union on the picket line at Euston station in London, as they are launching a wave of fresh walkouts in a long-running dispute over pay. Train drivers at 16 rail companies are holding a rolling programme of one-day walkouts between April 5 and 8, coupled with a six-day ban on overtime. Picture date: Friday April 5, 2024
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

On the eve of the 157th Trades Union Congress, MICK WHELAN, general secretary of Aslef, the train drivers’ union, celebrates victory in his campaign to get dignity for drivers at work

Members of the Aslef union on a picket line near to Leeds tr
Features / 21 November 2024
21 November 2024
NEIL FINDLAY slams the shocking lack of facilities and breaks forcing drivers to risk health and endure degrading conditions following a new report from train drivers’ union Aslef
Britain / 19 November 2024
19 November 2024