A ‘POTENTIALLY lethal’ legionella outbreak has been found on Thameslink services after a deadly bacteria was discovered in the trains’ loos.

       According to the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, seven toilets on four trains had traces of the bacteria, which can cause Legionnaires, a deadly lung disease.

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       ‘Potentially lethal’ amounts of legionella have been found on Thameslink services Credit: PA:Press Association

       They have now slammed the train company’s “pitifully inadequate” treatment of the issue and have accused them of putting customer and staff health at risk.

       Legionnaires' disease is a serious lung infection which is caused by Legionella bacteria.

       It is usually transmitted by inhaling small droplets of infected water but it can't be passed on from person to person.

       'RECKLESS APPROACH'

       General secretary Mick Lynch has now called for an urgent meeting of Thameslink’s joint safety committee.

       He said: “RMT has been raising concerns for weeks now, and the latest cavalier approach from the company is pitifully inadequate and is an outright gamble with passenger and staff health.

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       “We have now declared a dispute and, be in no doubt, if we don’t get serious action we will ballot our members and do whatever is required to end this reckless approach to a potentially lethal situation on these increasingly busy trains.”

       Thameslink’s train services director Rob Mullen said: “A very low level of Legionella was found to be present during testing in a small number of our Thameslink Class 700 train toilets.

       “While it is extremely unlikely this would cause any harm to passengers or colleagues, the toilets affected were immediately locked out of use.

       “The trains were taken out of service and these toilets have now been drained, bleached and had their tanks completely re-filled.

       “There is no recorded case of anyone, ever, having contracted Legionella from a train.”

       Thameslink is a part of the Govia Thameslink Railway, the UK’s largest train operator.

       The company added in a statement: “Legionella can potentially be spread through atomised water droplets in the air in enclosed spaces, but water in our toilets is gravity-fed, which makes this extremely unlikely and further lowers the already very low risk.

       “However, as a precaution, we immediately closed the affected toilets and took these trains out of service.

       “The toilets affected have been completely drained, bleached and re-filled to rectify this situation.

       “All other parts of the trains were unaffected, including our air con systems, which do not use water (they use refrigeration to cool the air).

       “Therefore, as Legionella spreads via water-based vapour, it is not possible for it to be present in our air con systems.”

       An outbreak of Legionnaires' left at least 11 people unwell in upper Manhattan in July 2018.

       The number of cases soon jumped to 16, with health officials inspecting 20 water cooling towers.

       Ten were taken to hospital for treatment with authorities rushing to try and find the cause of the outbreak.

       Legionnaires' cases confirmed