A TRIP to nightschool became a nightmare for Pauline Riley after she was left standing on an isolated rail platform in the dark for 40 minutes.

Now Pauline, a registered nurse, is calling for British Rail to keep manned waiting rooms open until the last train has left the station.

Pauline, from Darwen, catches the train from Blackburn to Burnley once a week to attend a first aid at work course at Burnley College.

But now she is too afraid to catch the evening train home at 9.55pm because Burnley Central station waiting room closes at 9.20pm.

Pauline had to stand alone on the platform after staff locked the waiting room and left - and she wasn't even allowed to use the toilet because they said it was exclusively for disabled customers.

An angry Pauline said: "The first week of the course I got to the station and thought I would be allowed to stay in the waiting room until my train came. "But at 9.20pm the staff told me I had to wait outside because they were locking up. And when I asked if they would hang on while I used the toilet they said I couldn't use it because it was a disabled loo.

"Waiting on my own was very intimidating, women could be attacked. British Rail are putting their passenger lives at risk. Manned stations should be just that."

Pauline wrote to British Rail customer services to complain, but so far has not had a reply.

Will Roby from North West Regional Railways said the stations were only manned during busy periods.

He added: "We have to close the waiting room when staff leave because we have a lot of problems with vandalism in East Lancashire.

"It is very unusual for anybody to arrive for a train 40 minutes before departure time and I think it would be more sensible for Mrs Riley to wait until nearer the train time.

"As for the toilet facilities we do have toilets on all our trains. It is unfortunate, but it is economic necessity that we have to close the waiting rooms."

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