Pornographic images were flashed before the eyes of stunned passers-by on a large high-tech touchscreen tourism kiosk sign in Aberystwyth at the weekend.

Police were alerted when the images, in the style of animated Japanese erotica, were put on display on Sunday night after a “fault” developed which allowed the internet to be browsed on the device.

The 55-inch digital touchscreen outside the train station on Alexandra Road is one of three in the town erected earlier this year by Advancing Aberystwyth Ar y Blaen, the group behind the town’s Business Improvement District.

The screen is supposed to be used to advertise local businesses and events in the town to residents and visiting tourists, but instead showed images of sexual content in cartoon form on Sunday night, after a “faulty player” allowed the screen to be used to openly access the internet.

Shaun Jones, of Emerge Advertising which runs the software and content of the machines, said the explicit images were “only up for a few minutes”, and called the incident “extremely unfortunate”.

He said a faulty player from a third-party company had caused the issue, and that all players in the three Aberystwyth screens have been replaced and had security fixes applied.

See this week’s Aberystwyth paper for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition now