PROBLEMS continued for the city’s new leisure centre this week as phone lines went down just weeks after it opened.

A frustrated reader complained that he had expected St Albans council to use the old Westminster Lodge number for the new leisure centre.

Instead the number rang until it rang out with no cut-in message to say the number had been changed.

And when he had located the new Westminster Lodge number, he found the line was out of order.

He added: “I did get through on one occasion but no-one answered the phone.”

Richard Shwe, the council’s head of community services, confirmed there were currently technical issues with the telephone system for the new Westminster Lodge Leisure Centre.

He went on: “The leisure centre operator, Everyone Active, is working with its telephone service provider to resolve this issue. If people are experiencing difficulties in getting through to the leisure centre, Everyone Active is asking them to email westminsterinfo@everyoneactive.com.

“For information about opening times, please go to: http://www.everyoneactive.com/tabid/1756/Default.aspx. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”

Mr Shwe added: “The council hopes to resolve the issue with the old leisure centre telephone number shortly.”

The leisure centre has encountered several problems since it opened on November 10 including the pool being closed because a child fell and suffered a head injury on slippery floors, difficulties in finding parking spaces and some staff claiming not to have been paid for their first month.