Bus driver Gavin Rodda who works at the King Street site made the images public to highlight the problems faced by passengers and the public
These shocking photographs show evidence of drug use at Wrexham bus station.
Bus driver Gavin Rodda, has posted more than 20 disturbing pictures on social media of bloody needles and drugs paraphernalia in the toilets.
The images show people slumped or sleeping in the King Street station but there is no evidence that they have taken drugs.
Mr Rodda, who works at the King Street station, took them over the last few months and decided to put them on Facebook to highlight the scale of the drug problem.
The reaction to the Facebook post has taken him aback after it went viral and was shared more than 2,500 times.
Mr Rodda said he fears it will take the death of an addict before anything is done to tackle the issue of drug use at the station: “Some of these pictures are shocking but it’s the reality of everyday life for the addicts that use there.
“I want people to see this and come together to find a solution to the major drug problem that Wrexham currently has. Is it really going to take a death of an addict inside the bus station to make a change? I hope not.”
He added: “There are needles being left in the toilets with blood by them. There are the remnants of heroin that has been smoked using tin foil. There are empty methadone bottles that were left on the back of toilets.
“All of the paraphernalia pictured was within reach for a child.”
He added: “Elderly passengers who use the bus station are increasingly saying that they no longer feel safe in there and they are intimidated by the groups of addicts who ask them for money.
“Even with two security guards now present in the bus station, it is not enough to deter the addicts and their behaviour.”
Mr Rodda suggested police could use an empty office there to keep an eye out.
“For a lot people, myself included, Wrexham bus station is our workplace and we feel that it is no longer safe to work in, even with the attempts that have been made to control the drug problems,” he said.
“We work in a place knowing that there are people walking around carrying syringes on them which could be used as a weapon at any given moment.”
The Daily Post today approached North Wales Police and Wrexham Council who run the bus station for a comment.
Wrexham’s Plaid Cymru chairman Marc Jones called for action to be taken to deal with drug use at the station.
He said: “This should be a priority for the local authority, the health board and the police and anybody else involved who deals with the bus station.
“There are no easy solutions but something needs to be done, but it is unacceptable for the people who use the bus station or work there.
“This is a gateway to Wrexham and this what the first impression we want to give people.”
The council has set up a task force to tackle the rising tide of drug abuse in Wrexham.
Last year figures showed early one million needles were handed out to drug users across North Wales with more than a quarter of those in Wrexham during 2015/16, where many have ended up on the streets.
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/shocking-scale-wrexham-bus-station-12696102
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