Public toilets

I was issued with a special card which I can show in shops or other public buildings. The card states that I have a medical condition which means I need immediate access to facilities.

harrigran have you ever encountered resistance by staff when you have shown your card ?
It shouldn't happen of course but sadly it wouldn't surprise me.

It's a funny thing, this growing older phenomenon, which I am still not used to as I feel just the same as I ever did, apart from the fact that (and it is a fact) if I take my dogs for a walk and don't 'go' beforehand, I always always have to 'go' behind a tree, half way round; or have to face the reality that when I get home I will pee myself running to the loo.... after I have got out of the car and unloaded the dogs... unlocked the front door... all whilst desperately doing the pelvic floor to hold the Niagra falls in and failing miserably

The rule is to go before you leave the house.

Shops with a restaurant in always have public loos, and shopping malls have them too..

Not sure about other parts of the country, but here in Leeds we have plenty of public toilets.

'Key in the door syndrome' is a medical term!
My mother (who rarely drank) always impressed on me that it was all right to go into a pub to use the loo. Nervous at first, I soon got used to the idea. I'm also happy to go into coffee chains and was once taken to the staff loo in a Waitrose. 'Taken' because I was using a stick and it was down steep steps.

I think it depends where you are. I watched a programme once about towns in the Welsh Valleys where there are no toilets. Many people are housebound because a lack of toilets.

nonnie I think there's a name for the condition where you cant hold on even though a loo is tantalisingly close....

*xpost, elrel! That's the one!

gettingonabit... it's called stupidity

In our smallish town we have 2 state of the art, beautifully kept loos. They are however rarely open at the same time and it's sod's law that if you make for one, it's the wrong one! In our village we had some really grotty ones that were on the pub carpark . The brewery sold the land for housing so we now have a portaloo on the supermarket car park.

OH drinks a lot of water since he had surgery last year and he's forever needing to look for a loo which are always few and far between or we'll find one only for it to be closed.

I left last week at 5 am to drive from Hampshire to Cornwall as I wanted to miss the Bank holiday traffic. I take a "water" tablet and I was dismayed to find no places open with a toilet, All the garages seemed to be off the main road. In the end I pulled into a layby and hid behind the small rubbish bin. Luckily the traffic was very light and I was so despatate I didn't care what any one thought. I would have had to climb over a barbed wire fence to get behind a hedge so the bin had to do.

We seem to copy America on so many things, why can't we copy their loos which are to be found absolutely everywhere.

Try the app Toilet Finder!smile

I have downloaded the app thanks

nina, I haven't had to use the card yet as I am not really well enough to be out of the house for lengthy periods. I was hoping that people will be kind and recognise that sometimes you just can not wait.

I had that problem today while travelling. Stopped in a smallish town, found a public toilet that was locked up for the night (at 8pm ish). So followed a sign to Sports Centre, breezed in past the reception desk and used the loo in the changing room.
(No idea if I was meant to pay to get in or not.)

I went to a retail park recently and had to leave earlier than I would have done because none of the shops seemed to have toilets. My local Homebase has removed its customers toilet. It must be annoying if people just pop in to use it and then leave but they could put it at the back at the store with a notice at the front that they have one.
They seem to think that they it is a major favour and inconvenience to provide one but it seems a bit short sighted to me.
I've only recently realised that a Sainsburys I use often has one at the back and round a corner leading to the stock rooms where customers wouldn't normally go.
Vandalism of council loos in my area is pretty bad (in one instance I think the person doing it must have mental health problems because it is really disgusting) so I can see that there is a real expense in keeping them usable but just closing them all shouldn't be the answer.

This is a very common problem, and though I always try and remember to go before leaving the house, inevitably I (or OH) may need to use a loo when out. I have become quite blase about going into a cafe/Macdonalds and going straight to the loo.If challenged, I would say that I will be buying something after using the loo. If I change my mind, there's not a they can do about it! Shops are often not allowed to let customers use staff toilets for 'Elf % Safety' reasons eg a customer might fall down stairs/ injure themselves somehow whilst doing so, which is understandable. I know there are various devices eg Shewee (SP?) which are available, and might look into buying one.

Public toilets have already suffered from the trickle down effects of spending cuts. Local authorities are increasingly short of cash and they have priorities they have to meet - safeguarding children, care for the elderly, education etc. Some of you may tell me off for being political - but you have George Osborne to thank when you find a public toilet closed until further notice. Ours are closing here even though it is a tourist area and the toilets have a Mission Statement on them!!
On the subject of "key in the door" urgency this started affecting me lately and very irritating it is too. GP suggested giving up caffeine but I don't know whether it has helped much.
Two things that do help - one is to train yourself out of that urgent feeling. You get to the door, you KNOW your bladder was fine 5 minutes ago. Just sit down on the stairs and relax until the feeling passes off. Distract yourself. The more you dash to the loo, the stronger the conditioned response becomes. The other thing is to work, work, work on those pelvic floor exercises so that you can hold it in. I used to be an antenatal teacher - but it is hard to remember to keep at 'em day in day out for the whole of your life. Try to "isolate" the front part of your pelvic floor when you tighten - imagine you are pulling the muscles upwards towards the pubic bone. Keep trying and visualising and soon you will start to feel it happening.

Last year I took my three year granddaughter to the seaside. We went into an ice cream parlour and ordered an ice cream each. We had just sat down when she announced she needed to go to the toilet. I asked the manager where the toilet was, and he said they didn't have one! He sent us across a busy road to the town hall. We had to leave our ice creams melting at the table. I don't know how my granddaughter held on, as it took about 10 minutes to get across the road and find the toilets in the town hall. I was really cross as the cafe must have had toilets for their staff. I won't ever use that cafe again.

I've just read about the "key in the door syndrome" and realise I have that. If I'm pottering about in the garden and need the loo I might think I'll go in a few minutes. As soon as I come in the house the urgency hits me and I barely make the bathroom. I didn't know this was common and I'm so glad to realise I'm not unusual!

So relieved (!) to find 'key in the door' is a recognised medical condition!! It happens to me so often and until I get to the door, my bladder doesn't even send urgent messages, but, fumbling for my keys** and turning the lock...disaster!!
**before anyone suoggests I get the keys out in advance of reaching the door, in my own defence I have to state that I walk with 2 crutches and so can't 'multi-task' whilst walking and have to stand still to get the keys!!

I understood a lot of public toilets went when government (or was it EU) rulings said a disabled toilet had to be included. Either there was no space, or it was prohibitively expensive, so the public loo was closed.

Vandalism and wrong use of toilets for drug dealing etc. has also closed facilities which is really sad. Like others on this list I dive into a coffee shop or restaurant/pub to use theirs, but still get caught at times as I've been left with a cystocele following pelvic floor surgery which cannot be corrected (just lived with and endured).

We had 4 lots of public toilets in our town, 2 were sold off,and are now Italian restaurants.They had lovely settings as they were on the edge of parks so the buyers kept the original building and changed the insides only ( obviously). The other one is in our town centre and down very steep steps not suitable for the elderly or mums worth pushchairs and the other one is only open set times of the day due to the wrong sort of people hanging out in them.

Here in Scotland a lot of the public toilets have an attendant who takes great pride in her 'establishment', often having fresh flowers beside the wash basin. O.K., we have to pay for it (20p) but it makes such a difference to have clean toilets that are checked every time they have been used.