AIBU to wish toilet cubicles were a decent size.

Toilet cubicle dimensions are governed by building regulations, some of which have evolved over the years. The solution would be to have doors opening outwards, as is the case already in some toilets.

I think at railway stations etc they should be bigger, it can be difficult to manoevre your suitcase plus your bag into them.
Agree about the doors opening outwards, it helps hugely.
They should all be like that at stations etc.

Sometimes the door would have to be open to accommodate my knees!!
Also they don't all have a hook for my bag.

Some public toilets are very cramped and it can't be hygienic to have to rub against the toilet bowl to get around the door - and that's when you're slim. It must be impossible for larger people. Having to squeeze past the bowl really annoys me.

As suggested, outward-opening doors would help a lot.

It also annoys me when there's nowhere to hang your handbag (who wants to put it on the floor?).

Don't mention the loos in an aeroplane although obviously space is at a premium on an aircraft.
I could barely fit in and I am averageish size.Many males are bigger than women just because they are men.
Those who can't, wait , I suppose.

There are a couple of places here where the only toilet is also the disabled one. They don’t have hooks for bags/coats in them. I asked staff if they could install hooks and was told they couldn’t do that because anyone in a wheelchair wouldn’t be able to reach up to a hook to use it.

I suggested they could put hooks in lower down the wall/door so most people could reach it and they looked at me as if I’d grown two heads! Honestly.

Mostly, it’s getting into cubicles with small grandchildren that challenges me. Thankfully, nowadays all but one can mange the loo on their own.

Don’t start me off on public toilets! Seems to me that everywhere I go lately the old Ladies and Gents are being replaced with unisex loos. Not for me! Puts me off going to some places. I’m very fussy about public toilets so am starting to think about going behind the nearest bush.

The height of most toilets get me I feel as if I plonk down with a bump , then wonder how I am going to get back up to a standing position without any thing to grab onto, I have bad knees but don't like to use a disabled loo, but I am going to start.

Airport toilets tend to be a decent size but railway stations are usually too small and as for bus stations!
The only thing worse is attempting to use the toilet on the bus. You'd have to be desperate.

Shops which offer facilities make sure you have to find them on the top floor. Such is M&S in Princes Street. John Lewis, also Edinburgh is better but not too convenient.

Our community store has decent sized toilets and a disabled/baby change one but we are hoping to build one with a hoist for really disabled people. There's one in IKEA but that's all.

Worst one for me was a McDonald’s in Spain . I had to climb over the toilet to close the door😩 I wouldn’t even manage to do that today.

Apparently, there should be a 450 mm diameter area allowed for movement. However, the statutory requirement for public toilets is only for a minimum depth of 1500mm. However, this does not seem compatible with the reality. A public toilet door has a minimum width of 600mm. The shortest toilet projection I could find from wall to front of pan is 600mm. To me, that gives only the possibility of a 300mm gap between open door and pan.
I know. I am taking this too far, but I was upset at having my lovely dress pressed up against the toilet pan.
Yes, I agree, the doors should open outwards, problem solved. Yes, there should be a hook for your bag. There wasn’t one of those either.

I am with you 62Granny.

It gets worse when in a small toilet cubicle there is a large toilet roll holder fixed to the wall just inside the opening door. It takes up half the space you are trying to squeeze yourself into while you close the door.The workman fitting it has opened the door, and has stood with his back against that to attach the paper-holder to the wall. Meanwhile there is a space on the opposite wall between door and toilet where the holder would just fit. When I come across one of these torture chambers I try to find someone to tell about it. Sometimes I have even found it has been fixed when I next visit. Not often.

I won't start another rant about the sanitary bins that are taller than the toilet bowl they stand beside, and press against the side of your naked flesh. Why not fit ones that are lower than the bowl?

In my local Waitrose there are 2 ordinary loos with one smaller than the other. To get into the small one, I have to shuffle in sideways and then it is a nightmare getting the door closed. I have used the disabled loo next door once, it appears to be permanently out of order.

In a pub near us the toilet door actually has a 'cut out' so that door can open around the toilet seat!

Earlier this year I was researching for a restaurant for a family meal in Tenerife. We'll need access for a mobility scooter and a disabled toilet.

I found a nice restaurant, with a disabled toilet, but there were a lot of steps up to the seating area so I asked the waitress if there was disabled access round the back.

"Oh no," she said. "They tell us we have to put in a disabled toilet, so we do.
They don't tell us we have to put in disabled access, so we don't." 🤷🏼

NoodleNut

In a pub near us the toilet door actually has a 'cut out' so that door can open around the toilet seat!

How does that work?

I think the worse ones I know of are the Boundry Mill stores in Lancashire.
Toilets are too low , a-bit like the toilets you would find in a nursery, or infant school.
I just can’t get down that low without hanging on to something.

with regards to doors opening outward
I usually use accessible loos. Have an electric wheelchair. These usually have room inside, but the doors for entry are a bit of a nightmare. There seems to be an assumption that any wheelchair user is accompanied by someone who can open and hold open those doors
They are (obviously) wide and heavy and it is nearly impossible to pull it wide open enough for me to get my wheelchair through, whilst actually manouvering that wheelchair.
My wheelchair control is with my righthand, loo door needs right hand to open it........!!!
To get out is easier when I wish to leave that loo room, I just kick the door open!!!!
Sliding doors make entry as well as exit so much easier, or even some sort of bi-fold.
would be good if designers/installers actually worked with someone in a wheelchair to see what is involved.

Yes, especially when the huge circular metal loo roll holder is on the wall where the door opens, and you have to REALLY try not to trap your legs against the loo and the sanitary bin while having to be a contortionist to squash around those and the door!

It must be even more difficult for the elderly and the disabled. And not just the women's but the men's too.

At the Everyman in Cheltenham they've got wall hung WCs which they've placed too low! Last time I genuinely feared I wouldn't be able to get up without help - and I'm relatively fit. God help anyone with mobility issues.

I use the disabled cubicle in our local leisure centre, I've yet to see anybody disabled in the building, so please don't shout at me! The door opens outwards and it is slightly wider than the others. There is no way that anybody with a wheelchair could possibly use the space, once the chair was in there would be no room at all to manoeuvre.
I often find that the hooks on doors are useless, sometimes they're just horizontal posts which won't hold anything at all.

All my bags are worn over the shoulder on along strap.

In public toilets, I put the long strap round my neck. No risk of leaving the bag behind on a hook.

Well I think it's so hard to find public toilets. The bus station where I live close at 3.30pm so it's difficult changing buses and there are no facilities. The size of each cubicle is unbelievable trying to get the door opened and closed especially with a shopping bag