IT has been branded a “disgrace” and an “eyesore” and this week a campaign was launched to improve Great Yarmouth's rundown railway station.Hundreds of people have already pledged support for the campaign on social networking website Facebook and signed an online petition.

IT has been branded a “disgrace” and an “eyesore” and this week a campaign was launched to improve Great Yarmouth's rundown railway station.

Hundreds of people have already pledged support for the campaign on social networking website Facebook and signed an online petition.

The station, run by train operator National Express East Anglia, is described as having “grotty loos, broken windows and minimal facilities”.

Among the critics of the state of the station is former Yarmouth mayor and borough councillor Paul Garrod.

Mr Garrod, who owns the town's Furzedown Hotel, said: “A lot of people use the train to travel to Yarmouth and it is creating a terrible first impression of the place.

“All that money has been spent improving the seafront, but this is just such a let down.

“This is the responsibility of National Express and they need to pull their finger out.

“Other stations between Norwich and Yarmouth are well maintained, but this is an absolute disgrace.”

Charlotte Casimir, who represents Acle on Broadland District Council, labelled the station as a “shocking” place where she wouldn't feel safe at night.

She said: “I used to regularly use the station a few years ago and it is appalling it has deteriorated even more since then.

“Yarmouth is a popular holiday resort and something should be done to make the station a more pleasant, welcoming place.”

Newtown Youth Centre secretary Carl Harding is among nearly 500 people to have added their names to the Fix Great Yarmouth station Facebook page.

He said: “I would like to see more signage and information for passengers at the station.

“People arriving here on holiday should be excited, but the station is such a let down.

“Hopefully the campaign will be the spur for the railway company to do something about this - it is embarrassing welcoming visitors at the station.”

The campaign was launched on Monday by prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate for Yarmouth Brandon Lewis and Tory party chairman Eric Pickles.

National Express is working on plans to improve pedestrian access to the station, provide new poster boards, station signs and customer information screen.

A company spokesman said: “Many of the issues involve areas of the station which are outside of our station leasehold area.

“We would like to see improvements to these areas taken forward and we work hard to ensure the station facilities for which we are responsible are well-presented and kept in good order.

“We are always willing to work with stake-holders including the appropriate local authorities and our colleagues at Network Rail to explore ways of providing improvements to the overall station environment.”

Visit www.

fixourstation.com and join the Facebook group by searching for Fix Great Yarmouth Station.