A couple are peed off after being soaked in urine at Chessington North station in south-west London on Good Friday.

After a trip to the theatre, Kevin Thomas and his girlfriend got off a train at 11pm and, as they left the station, found themselves in range of a man relieving himself in the middle of the ticket hall.

He said: "We were confronted by a young man urinating all over the floor, without even the decency to do it in a corner."

Even though they moved immediately, Mr Thomas described how they had to walk through a "river of urine" to leave the station. He said: "My girlfriend's trainers were soaked in urine, my trousers were splashed and my trainers were covered. We agreed not to keep the trainers; they would be hard to clean and the thought of the urine would always be there. I don't need to point out how unpleasant the walk home was."

Mr Thomas said: "My girlfriend and I regularly use this station and have often noticed the smell in the morning. It becomes clear that South West Trains (SWT) has a shocking disregard for the well-being of its customers."

The SWT customer charter states that one of its aims is to provide clean and safe stations for its customers. In response, an SWT spokesman said it was unfeasible to staff the stations at all times.

He said: "We do have patrols of travel-safe officers but it is not viable to man every station all the time. Chessington North will be deep-cleaned following this incident and the station manager will be checking the CCTV for still frames of the man."