Public toilets

Please don't ask your little ones to hold on for too long as it can cause bladder problems in later life.

With regard to vandalism there is a FREE downloadable booklet on how to reduce problems in public loos on the British Toilet Association website - I chaired the team . Councils and police authorities throughout the land have been informed of it - especially useful when refurbishing!

I hate small cubicles too - and having to half sit on the sanpro bin - yuck. There is a wall mounted bin suitable for use in a cubicle but I've never seen one in a public toilet. Have you? There are also one inset into the cubicle wall in some areas which I think are much more hygenic.

The most irritating loos for me are the ones in airports. If you have to take your hand luggage into the cubicle (and, as a solo traveller, I do), they are almost always impossibly cramped.

I also hate the ones where the enormous loo-roll holder has been attached by someone who opened the door with his (must be a he) shoulder and leaned his back against the open door while screwing the holder to the wall opposite him. When you try to get past the holder and close the door you are squashed. Why not fix it on the same wall as the door hinge? With a low sanitary bin underneath it where your btm does not touch it?

The worst ones I have ever used are the "green" composting toilets. There are - or were - some in a car park on the A6 in Derbyshire, halfway round a walk we often do and they are dire. They have recently upgraded the public toilets at the bus station in Filey, which used to be pretty awful and they are now quite posh and very hygenic but, as the upgrade co-incided with Tesco having built a store on part of the public car park I am cynical enough to wonder whether the council footed the bill for it or whether Tesco offered to do it as a sweetener! Not that I'm complaining....
I was in a large department store recently where the customer toilets were kept locked - you had to trek miles to ask for a key to use them. I was not impressed.

i completely agree with Jangran - a lot of toilets now have automated soap dispensers, taps, paper towel dispeners and Dyson air balde dryers which is fantastic but then we still have to grap a disgusting and grubby door handle to leave - makes no bloody sense when half the people havent washed their hands and now i have to touch the handle. Good news is that I saw a recent article in the paper about a new hygienic door handle from pure hold that was designed for hospitals - apparently it cleans your hands when you use it by dispensing alcoholic hand gel - absoulute genius idea and i think they should start installing these in public toilets and restaurants. Found out the web site is www.hygienehandle.co.uk - i might even buy one for my local supermarket toilet because they are always disgusting!

That's a great idea for a better loo door handle, I shall look forward to seeing them springing up all over the place hopefully. I usually try to open the door with my hand tucked up my sleeve - this makes perfect sense

On the whole I find public toilets to be smelly, dirty and the floor is always wet !
Now ladies I am sure you have come across this problem, where do you put your handbag when you are " spending a penny " , on the hook (if there is one ) on the door , no some one could jump up and make a grab for the bag. The floor ? no too wet! the only place I can come up with is around my neck !!! Any ideas ?

If it's a handbag can you have it on your knee perhaps? Otherwise I'm afraid your only safe option is to learn to juggle or only visit public toilets in pairs so that a friend can take care of the bag.
I'm very fortunate to live in a town which not only has plenty of public loos, but also a lovely man who keeps them all very clean.

I now only use a shoulder bag which I carry "sachel style" across my chest, it's not too much of a problem in loos as it can usually stay where it is

Goldengirl I think we need to combine our efforts

https://phyzzezee.wordpress.com/2011/08/14/not-going-out/

Please, read the above bit of my blog, and if interested, the other posts, especially the ones about toilets!

I need to sort out the site so that it's easier to see what's there, but it's not my area of expertise plus life keeps getting in the way

I just checked the link and for some reason the pics aren't showing I don't understand why and I'll have to seek help to sort this out, but in the meantime, if you click on the Home box at the top and then just scroll down through the other posts they seem to still be there.

Do hope all you inconvenienced :-) people out there are signing and publicising the national petition??

at present councils dont have to provide public toilets, and in the current economic climate closing them is an easy option. We think providing them should be compulsory...

Please click and sign the petition here:-
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/15258

FACEBOOK – please "like" here:-
https://www.facebook.com/pages/We-need-the-loo/142266822533490

TWITTER – please retweet to as many as possible
http://twitter.com/#!/weneedtheloo

weneedtheloo the epetition is a fantastic idea!! but to make the link easy for us you need to put it between brackets like this [[ ]]

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/15258