PORTABLE toilets are being hired by the town council for use during Saturday’s (September 26) Wellington Carnival after it admitted £220,000 new public conveniences would not be open in time.

The Longforth Road toilets were delivered in July, but remain unusable after more than 80 faults were found.

And this week the council launched a scathing attack on Blackpool-based contractors Danfo for its ‘failures’ with the project.

The company states on its website: “We bring our heart to every job in order to provide market-leading products and first-class service every time.

“We are safe, professional, and committed - we are Danfo.”

But, council chief executive Dave Farrow on Wednesday said the authority was seeking to recover from Danfo the cost of hiring the carnival toilets, believed to be several hundreds of pounds, and was taking legal advice on what further action may be available in relation to the company’s alleged failures.

Mr Farrow said: “Danfo was appointed on the basis of cost and its experience of successfully delivering similar projects across the country.

“We are extremely disappointed that the facility cannot open as planned.

“We have applied the contractual provisions available to us to prevent the delay from increasing the overall project cost, intend to recover the cost of hiring the portable toilets from Danfo, and are taking legal advice on potential further action.”

Among the faults blamed on Danfo was a wrongly-designed accessible toilet which could not be used as intended, and missing ventilation and fire prevention measures.

The task of making the toilets useable has now been taken over by Exeter-based BVLR, which the council contracted to oversee the build.

Mr Farrow said it was now hoped the Longforth Road toilets would be ready for opening by Friday, October 2.

The Wellington Weekly has approached Danfo for any response it has to the council’s public criticism.