Public Loos

Lots of people need to use public loos for all sorts of reasons, not just 'old ladies with weak bladders'. Hopefully they'll enhance cleaning as it's happening in supermarkets. Otherwise people can't go out.

I don't understand why local authorities neglect tp provide adequate public toilets. Especially in areas where there is a big influx of casual visitors such as beauty spots and town centres.

It is so obvious people need to evacuate waste as well as eat food and drink water.

Yes that's my worry. The big shopping centre in Nottingham will open next week but will the loos. Apparently you will have to queue to get into the centre then queue again to get into the store of choice in my case Tesco do the shopping then l have a bus journey and a walk back to my flat. How do you find out if the loos will be open. Are things getting better or just more complicated . When I need the loo l have to go l can't wait.

Anniefrance there are not too many bushes where I live in London!

Before my mother sat on a public loo she used to cover the seat with loo paper- very neatly. As a child I was dragged into the loo with my mother- she would never allow me to stand outside.

Very simply I will not be going out shopping until I know there are loo and preferably coffee fascilities also.

Most public toilets are shut because they are such a health hazard. The market traders' loo in Wuhan was suspected as a transmitter of the virus. I'd rather stay indoors and just have short walks outside, with all my shopping delivered.

I also cant believe that annifrance squats behind a bush. I could never do that. I remember having to do it as a child and being unable to 'go'! I would worry about being seen and also think its disgusting to leave something like that on the ground.

I feel the lack of loos could be considered discriminatory as many people with an assortment of conditions need quick access and are being prevented from basic activities such as shopping because of current lack of access. I only have a small capacity and dread the weekly shop, particularly if I'm going to have to wait in cold wet weather and wait in the queues for the supermarkets.
My sisters and I used to have regular meet ups, usually involving a shopping or garden centre trip, or National Trust visit, with the usual use of cafe and toilets wherever we visited. All 3 of us are similarly afflicted with quick need to go problems. Now that we can meet up outside, we tried to plan a meet up again but have had to abandon the idea because of lack of toilets. Opening up toilet provision again needs to be addressed alongside opening shops etc.
I have bought one of those Shewee things, but they need practice and a suitable cover to use them behind, and so far I have only had limited success with the practice results, the details of which I will spare you all from!

Even the very smallest campervan has a toilet. I predict a big sale for campervans if ther public toilet situation does not improve.

There is no need for public toilets to be unpleasant or unhygienic. It is a matter of how much money is spent on their maintenance including a permanent well paid attendant..

Please be explicit GrowingOld Disgracefully. Is a long plastic poncho part of the kit?

We all know that pre-lockdown if you went to the cinema or a NT property, shopping centre or seaside, during the day the vast majority of people had grey hair so if BJ & Co want to get the economy going they need to sort out the loos or we shall all be staying at home!

There are loos open in Tunbridge Wells where I live- I went in one with gloves on which I ditched before washing hands and opening the door with some paper which went in the bin!

This is a real problem for many, including me! I dare not go to the out-of-town supermarkets at the moment. I rang one chain to ask whether the toilet was open at my local superstore but, of course, it was a generic phone number and she had no idea whether the store’s would be open or not. I know that the operator was trying to be helpful when she suggested I asked at the store when I got there, but I just can’t risk it! Oh the joys of getting older...

no reason why they can’t open with everyone taking responsibility for cleaning and wiping down

Is that a pig I see flying over?

??

If only it were that simple.

I believe the loos in Teignmouth & Dawlish, Devon have never been closed.

Dartmoor National Park have re-opened some of the loos in the Car Parks (Pay & Display), slightly confusing as some only have Disabled ones open & puzzlingly in one Car Park it's Disabled & Gents but not Ladies

I have IBD & carry a card from Crohn's & Colitis UK requesting access (where practicable, excludes places such as Banks, Pharmacies where security may be an issue), I also have a RADAR key.

ASDA & Morrisons loos have remained open, Wilkos & ALDI closed theirs.

Because I can suddenly need to "go" I usually know the location of the nearest loos wherever I am.

Going behind a bush is fine if you're out in the country & can hide from view but only for a wee, anything else please clean up after yourself as you would a dog (apologies if that offends), I grew up in the country & as a child we went camping, usually pitching the tents in a Farmer's field, no fancy campsites but that was in the 1960s

I live in a seaside town. Some are open, others not.

I've bought a Female Urine Funnel because I went out the other day and got caught short. It was all rather embarrassing so when I got home I ordered the funnel so I can at least be comfortable in the knowledge I can find a bush somewhere if needed. It is small, squashable and washable enough to fit into a handbag so it seemed a reasonable purchase along with some face masks...hope I don't get them mixed up!

- icanhandthemback That made me smile!!

Well if you can find a bush first!

Toilets have been closing for years with the flimsiest of excuses. I bet most of the council-run ones will never reopen

Well I have got to the age of 76 and have learnt something new. I never knew that betting shops have public loos but it makes sense i suppose. Not that I have ever been in one.

The French are great ones for diving behind bushes to spend a penny when travelling. When i was 15 I spent the summer living with a French family and they used to jeer at me when we went out because I wouldn't go behind a bush to spend a penny. Their public toilets aren't the most sweet smelling these days either.
Surely public toilets could be reopened if the councils would spend more on keeping them clean?

Legs55

I believe the loos in Teignmouth & Dawlish, Devon have never been closed.

Dartmoor National Park have re-opened some of the loos in the Car Parks (Pay & Display), slightly confusing as some only have Disabled ones open & puzzlingly in one Car Park it's Disabled & Gents but not Ladies

I have IBD & carry a card from Crohn's & Colitis UK requesting access (where practicable, excludes places such as Banks, Pharmacies where security may be an issue), I also have a RADAR key.

ASDA & Morrisons loos have remained open, Wilkos & ALDI closed theirs.

Because I can suddenly need to "go" I usually know the location of the nearest loos wherever I am.

Going behind a bush is fine if you're out in the country & can hide from view but only for a wee, anything else please clean up after yourself as you would a dog (apologies if that offends), I grew up in the country & as a child we went camping, usually pitching the tents in a Farmer's field, no fancy campsites but that was in the 1960s

You can sanitizer a public toilet as much as you like but the virus can still live in the air for quite a long time and most toilets don’t have opening windows so a flow of air is impossible. I won’t be using a public toilet for the foreseeable future so that rules out shopping, cinemas and theatres if and when they reopen. Ditto country parks. Maybe we need more of those outside toilets that they have in France that automatically clean themselves when you leave them.

Who do we expect to put themselves at risk by cleaning these loos? If it isn’t safe for children to go to school surely it isn’t safe to be doing something as intimate as cleaning lavatories.

Oops: didn’t mean to reply with quote etc.....

We used to have some fully automated Public toilets around the various areas of Derby, mostly around the shopping centres and outskirts of the city. They were coin operated stainless steel tardis units, rather like a perminantly plumbed in Porta-loo, but with extras. On inserting your coin on the slot on the outside of the capsule,the door would open and the light would come on. The door automatically closed then you had 5 mins to use the Toilet, before the door would automatically re-open and you could exit. Each one had its own sink, soap dispenser and hand drier, Toilet paper was dispensed by a machine on the push of a button, and when you finally exited, the Toilet would perform its Automatic deep cleaning mode using steam jets and blown air dryer jets to sterilise itself. The downside was that they took about 8 mins per cycle to use and self clean, they cost 50p a go, and in some areas they were removed due to being used for vice and drug taking dens. However, they would be perfect for the
purpose of providing a freshly sanitised toilet for each person that needed to use one.

I had my eyes lasered yesterday. I keep a bucket and toilet roll in the car with had wipes. I have got to look for my shee wee so that I can put that in too.