Lifts and toilets wiped out by vandalism at Sunderland railway station, and cleaning staff 'abused'

Cleaning staff at the station have also been abused, just for going about their work.

The new south entrance to the station was opened amid much fanfare back in December 2023, after £27million worth of improvements had been carried out to what had been a dilapidated venue.

The project was driven by Sunderland City Council in partnership with Network Rail, Metro operators Nexus, train operating company Grand Central and Northern Rail - who are the station's operators.

Vandalism has been an issue since last year’s grand opening. In February 2024 the Echo reported that the toilets had been trashed. Northern said at the time that there had been "a number of incidents of vandalism".

The new lift at the station is also out of order now and also due to vandalism. Matters are made even worse by the older northern end lift not working either, although particular problem is not down to vandalism.

The station’s new escalator is still working.

But all toilets in the station - male, female and disabled - are currently out of use. No timescale has yet been given for when they will be functioning again, but the operator says "repairs are in hand and we hope to have it working again very soon".

The situation does nothing to help efforts to attract businesses to the station.

A spokesperson for Northern said: “Unfortunately, due to repeated acts of vandalism we have had to close the men’s toilets at Sunderland station until repairs can be made.

"More worrying is that members of our staff have also been the target of abuse while attempting to clean these facilities, which is totally unacceptable. We have seen similar vandalism to the south concourse lift, which is awaiting repairs.

“Regrettably, the north concourse lift is also out of service at the moment, although that is not connected to station vandalism. Repairs are in hand and we hope to have it working again very soon.”

Anyone with information on the vandalism at the station can report it anonymously on the British Transport Police website.