Public toilets were forced to close recently in Stroud. A reader has some advice for loo designers via a letter. 

We have experienced the problem of either closed or non existent public conveniences in many areas.

Sometimes this is a problem of “vandalism”.

So it says on the door.

To this I would reply, is the design of the modern public toilet that still exists, really appropriate?

We have encountered some very weird loo designs and funny plumbing to say the least.

Some loos are like an enclosed space capsule with no windows.

For heaven’s sake if you were stuck in there, no one would ever know.

Some people won’t use these because they are obviously designed to be claustrophobic.

You then get weird behaviour of people going in together, or holding open the door for each other.

In some loos you find you are surrounded by notices which you are supposed to have time to read.

In others there is an emergency cord, but of course one would never really know whether it works or not.

Sometimes there is a phone number to ring if you get “stuck in there” !

Then horrendously there are those that open automatically after so many minutes!

Don’t be silly.

Of course, people will avoid these or misuse them, or go and find one they like at a local museum or local cafe that they weren’t otherwise planning to visit.

Some loos like to be” automatic” and you just wave your hand or stand up and off they go. Whoosh!

Then there are the really nutty ones that are meant to be “eco friendly” and “save water”.

Again, don’t be fooled by this.

A certain amount of water is necessary for hygiene.

You really don’t need those two button operations which give you a ridiculous choice.

I met a plumber a year or so ago who happened to get into conversation with us about this.

Apparently these water economy ones can create all sorts of plumbing problems and blockages that his company has to be paid to sort out very expensively.

I think that proper loos are one of the things that the previous generation got right and this generation has got wrong.

No we don’t need all the fancy devices above in claustrophobic surroundings.

We need the proper old fashioned loos in regular public places whereby if you had a problem and collapsed or something along those lines, then at least someone else could see that you were there eventually!

A serious point really.

Many thousands of abdominal operations are carried out by the NHS every year, millions suffer from either IBS and/or incontinence related problems, and many others are on medication that means their own personal plumbing is not particularly good.

So what we need is not fancy “trying too hard” loos, but proper loos in public places that actually work properly without gadgets and strange things to have to come to terms with such as lots of notices to read at the wrong moment!

(I hope the loo designers are reading this as well as the people who commission public loos).

Elizabeth Smith

Woodmancote

Glos