Cafe wouldn’t let pregnant woman use toilet

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I’ve just ordered some breakfast for collection from a local cafe round the corner and had a quick flick through the reviews first. The most recent review is:

‘As a heavily pregnant lady went in desperate for the bathroom and they refused to let me use their toilet despite me being in tears and not close to anywhere else open. In a packed shop full of customers, they said no with no heart, no remorse, no feeling. Have never been more horrified, myself and my husband will never be using this place again’

I feel like it’s a bit harsh and the bit about there being nowhere to go close by is very untrue. There’s a Morrison’s maximum 5 minutes walk away with toilets. As a (second time) pregnant woman myself I wouldn’t get annoyed if an establishment didn't let me use staff toilets, I’d just find somewhere with public ones. The cafe gave a long response as to why they couldn’t let her use the bathroom. Mainly because their insurance didn’t cover customers in the staff area of the cafe and there were lots of boxes etc. laid about. If the pregnant woman had hurt herself then it probably wouldn’t have been good for them. They also said they managed to get the keys for the toilet in the opposite pub so it’s not like the reviewer didn’t get to use one. I think it was quite kind of them to go to the effort of making sure she used a bathroom.

Do you think she’s being reasonable or not? I think she’s being a bit U due to there being a Morrison’s so close by! (I’m not the cafe owner just interested in people’s views). My DM thinks they should have let her use it no questions asked purely because she was pregnant, I’m a little unsure

The risk of the woman actually succeeding in any claim - practically zero if the cafe explained that the area wasn't meant for customers and she'd be entering at her own risk

As a matter of English, liability for,personal injury (or death) caused by negligence cannot be excluded. Saying you enter 'at your own risk' is legally ineffective!

@Nicknacky

Stop behaving like a normal reasonable person - surely this requires some outrage and sad face tomDaily Mail

Whether people use the loo as a 'side issue' or as the main event, they still pee and poop and the owner/staff will still need to maintain the loo

A public Convenience cafe, free and open to all , will have a higher volume of (non paying) traffic with accompanying higher volumes of shit, piss and worse . How is that difficult to comprehend?

Do you think the Mums netters who are APPALLED if a workman at their home requests to use the loo are the same ones who are so free and easy and generous with small businesses' toilets?

They can't respond, Aridane, as they are too busy signing their homes up for find a toilet apps or volunteering to stock, maintain and clean the bogs in private businesses so the general public can use them, because it's the kind thing to do.

I remember, Francis! She had to get a lock installed. Of course, given this thread, she should have been able to easily find an MNer offering their personal ensuite to the man.

My personal favourite was the OP who was AirB&Bing a room in her house and it was strictly NO CHILDREN due to lack of safety. A customer booked the room and then asked to bring her child. The OP said NO and cancelled the booking. The woman still showed up and demanded entry for her and her child, leading to a neighbour ringing the police.

You'd have thought she was harpooning baby seals according to MN virtue signallers. It was hilarious! She was supposed to let the woman in, provide a hot meal and nappies for the toddler, give her a place to stay for free, kindness and hilarity ensued.

sweeneytoddsrazor
Sadly hearhooves would have a long wait at our premises today as a non customer has meamt the gents being closed all day so any men wishing to use the loos are queing for the disabled toilet

Again, your post is odd. What do you mean? "a non customer meant the gents were closed'...why would anyone use your loo for so long that it was closed all day? What crazy non-customer do you attract Sweeney? Funny thing is, most people are pretty normal - customer or non-customer. They are just people. People don't morph from one species to another depending on whether they are a customer on that day. You seem to attract hoards of weird 'non-customers' that bizarrely close your loo. What do you mean 'close your loo' anyway?

Aridane who said anything about turning your cafe into a public convenience. We are taking about desperate people. Not just a free for all. We are talking about eyeballing someone who is in tears due to their need and then turning them away. What part of that do you find so hard to comprehend. Just flat out nasty.

GoodGriefSunshine

I'm guessing that they mean 1 non customer left the toilets in such a state, or vandalised it, that they had to be closed meaning the men had to be diverted into the disabled toilet instead.

Oh I remember the smelly guy one.

Yea I am taking into consideration, but please add more to help out.

No work clothes - cannot have the builders using the loo
Wear all black - that automatically makes me look dodgy
Send smoke signals just before I knock on the door to alert them, so they will answer the door to the stranger and not call 101.
Don't park outside anyone house even if the road is public.

Who was in tears and got turned away @GoodGriefSunshine

Why is her pregnancy their problem? They can't bend the policy for her. It's unfortunate but it is what it is.

Oh, please, we have no idea if she was in tears, such melodrama and projecting here. There was no toilets for any sort of public use. So they directed her to one. The end.

Correct @ hearhooves as I said on an earlier thread somebody went into the toilets and started a fire, which lead to standing out in the cold for an while as the store was evacuated and also the gents are closed all day today as they are repaired. I appreciate this is a extreme example, but as a busy supermarket in a major town, where public toilets have all but disappeared, there is a huge problem with people using the customer toilets and leaving them in a disgusting state, including leaving needles lying around. We also had a drunken couple getting amourous in the toilets which is a whole other thread.

We are taking about desperate people. Not just a free for all.

But what percentage of people have, at one time or another, (quite truthfully) proclaimed themselves desperate for the toilet? 100%, I'd guess.

Even the woman complaining wasn't that desperate.
Was able to hold it in long enough for a key to be found for elsewhere. Desperate to me means not able to hold it in.

It's illegal to refuse a pregnant woman the toilet, regardless of whether it's a customer or staff one. Sounds like they need to educate their staff on that.

It's illegal to refuse a pregnant woman the toilet, regardless of whether it's a customer or staff one.
Link please.

I had to beg the man in Specsavers to let 5 yo DS use the loo. He was desperate and crying (naturally had said he didn’t need before we left the house!) and I had 7 yo DD actually having her eyes tested at the time, so couldn’t just leave her there while I took DS to the pub across the street. DS toilet trained very slowly and when he said he had to go, he had to go, despite being 5. The man let him use the staff toilets in the end, but he had to go and ask his (older, female) boss who took one look at DS and said yes.

*She WBU given they went above and beyond to actually find her a loo to use.

The lack of public facilities isn’t down to a business to solve unless they receive some benefit from the council.

She could easily have bought something to use the loo.*

This. They aren’t a public convenience and she’s a CF leaving a bad review.

Link please

Haha so sorry I'm wrong!! It's actually just an exception for disorderly conduct can be made for pregnant women (I.e. pissing themselves on a shop floor). Sorry all. I was actually told this "fact" many years ago during retail staff training and never questioned it until my quick Google today.

Please ignore my previous post.