A flagship city centre store has been forced to charge for using its toilets because of “Canterbury’s drug problem”.

Fenwick managing director Michelle Stewart said the move to hand out tokens to customers and charge 50p for non-customers was a necessity after staff refused to clean toilets littered with needles and repeatedly damaged by addicts.

She said: “We had damage to the ladies’ toilets and staff were refusing to clean toilets after finding syringes.

“Everyone knows the city has a drug problem.

“It is our responsibility to protect our staff from syringes and threats from users. It is with great sadness that we have taken this step but it is a necessity.

Mrs Stewart said customers would now get free tokens for the mother and baby rooms on the first floor and toilets on the second floor from tills and at the in-store restaurant. Others face a 50p charge.

She added: “We can no longer tolerate this and we also believe our staff should not be insulted and abused.”

* Full story and reaction in today's Kentish Gazette.