After my post a few days ago in response to the responses from Virgin Trains that seemed to confirm the presence of CCTV cameras in toilets, I have received an e-mail from their customer services team to clarify what they actually should have said:

Dear Mr Blythe,

Thank you for your e-mail.

I can confirm that we do not have CCTV cameras located in the toilets on board our trains. We do have CCTV located in some toilets at our stations; these are obviously directed away from toilet cubicles and urinals for privacy reasons and are focussed on the sink and entrance areas as part of our efforts to prevent anti-social and criminal behaviour. Signage is in place advising customers if there is CCTV installed. 

I trust this allays your concerns and I am sorry for any misunderstanding.

Yours sincerely

– redacted – 

Customer Relations

All of the online furore could have been avoided if Virgin had issued a clear statement on the issue from the outset, rather than having different arms of their organisation saying different things – and squashing a sensitive issue into 140 character Twitter replies.