A WOMAN is at her wits’ end over the “disgusting” state of a coach station.

Margaret Thurley, 85, has been writing to The Argus about Brighton’s Pool Valley for almost a decade.

Now, having lived in the city for 60 years, she says the station is the shabbiest she has ever seen it.

Asked what was wrong with the area, she said: “What’s right with it? It’s disgusting.” In one recent letter, entitled “Hell Valley, properly known as Pool Valley”, Mrs Thurley wrote: “The whole area is a disgrace. The two shelters which face the sea afford no shelter at all, there are two dirty benches and at least 20 large bins, several of which are overflowing.

“I can’t imagine what visitors must feel when they arrive for the first time. What an introduction to this city.

“I was on a coach coming back from Devon last year and the driver said it was the worst in the country.”

Mrs Thurley, who moved to Brighton to work as a nurse in the 1960s, remembers a time when there were toilets nearby and a shop for refreshments.

She said: “It might look like I’m a bit of a tub-thumper but I make no apologies for that. If people don’t speak up, nothing gets done. And lots of people agree with me.”

Others echoed her calls for a coach station facelift.

Brighton Area Buswatch, which represents bus users, raised the issue of “Brighton’s increasingly shabby coach station” in 2014.

It said: “Six years on, the situation has got worse with cars and vans regularly parking on the paved waiting areas.

“A few years ago, Stagecoach moved the 700 bus out and last year National Express told us they want to abandon the coach station in favour of pick-ups on the street in Old Steine.

“The current facilities must give an appalling impression to visitors. Coach users deserve better.

“Abandoning Pool Valley for an on-street location is not acceptable for a major visitor destination.

“What we need is a decent coach station here in Pool Valley with proper covered waiting facilities for passengers, toilets and somewhere to buy tickets or a coffee.

“There is plenty of space to do this.”

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “We are currently developing a new local transport plan which will outline transport investment opportunities and priorities for improvements in the city.

“The future of Pool Valley will be considered as part of this plan.”