Commuters are banding together to demand something is done to spruce up the state of Radlett station which has been branded a "disgrace".

Radlett Station is unpleasant, covered in graffiti and no-one is doing anything about it, Radlett commuter David Clout claims.

Mr Clout of Watling Knoll, Radlett, said a spate of vandalism at the village station off Watling Street started around two months ago and has escalated.

"If nothing is done about it, it leads to more," said Mr Clout, who targeted criticism mainly at the state of the station's waiting room -- which recently suffered from vandals who smashed in the windows.

Mr Clout said the authorities responsible for the station's upkeep, including Railtrack, should do more to curb vandalism by introducing closed circuit television.

Radlett councillor Peter Stanley joined the growing clamour for action this week by calling the station an "embarrassment".

"Speaking as a commuter, and someone who has lived in the village for ten years, I'm disappointed it is as scruffy as it is," he said.

The Hertsmere Borough Council member is demanding something should be done about keeping it clean.

Mr Stanley said he was looking forward to the Thameslink 2000 initiative, part of which would bring in more money to help improve the image of the station.

This week a spokeswoman for Thameslink, the passenger train operator partially responsible for the station's upkeep, admitted that a problem had developed there recently and acknowledged the area had become the haunt of young people on Friday and Saturday nights with the station kiosk suffering a number of break-ins.

But the spokeswoman added measures to address the problems were being taken.

Contracts for maintaining the station -- including the removal of graffiti -- were now in place, and workers had recently been called in to deal with complaints.

"We are upset about it and we cannot tolerate it. We will be taking this up with the local authorities. We have been talking to the British Transport Police about the increase in the problem," she said.

The spokeswoman said cameras were soon to be installed in stations north of London.

It was usually found that stations were targeted for a time by vandals before moving on.

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