Banging on the door of the Accessible Toilet

[HunterHearstHelmsley]

Why do people do this?!

I've just used the accessible toilet (I need to use the accessible toilet). I'd barely sat down and someone started banging on the door. I wasn't in there an unreasonable amount of time - probably about 30 seconds when the door banging started and 3 minutes overall. I was in there because I needed to be, banging on the door isn't going to make me quicker. If someone was taking the piss, it'd probably make them stay longer!

It's not the first time it's happened but it's so frustrating. It happened a few weeks ago also, that time was a woman wanting to use the baby change... the baby change wasn't even in the accessible loo!

It's really annoyed me this morning, it's not something I've noticed when using non-accesible toilets so I think it's just an accessible loo thing. But whyyyy?! I can't go faster 😩

I imagine it is mostly a combination of people thinking they are doing the world a favour by policing everyone and other people needing the facilities rather urgently.

That’s mad! I recognise the white dots but I don’t recall ever seeing them change to red. Does red definitely mean someone has gone in and locked it from the inside, not just that it’s locked when empty because of the radar system?

It wasn't a knock. It was BANG BANG BANG!

I get a polite knock (particularly as it appears radar keys open the door even if it's locked from the inside, I always thought being locked from the inside was akin to a key being in a lock). Sometimes you can't tell if the toilet is occupied, this particular toilet isn't always locked and you don't need a radar key. If you give the handle a tug, you can tell if it's occupied or not. They pulled the door then started hammering. It's a members place too so the majority of people here will be aware of the set up.

I don't think they saw me go in, if they had then they would have seen the crutches.

It was an older man this time. I couldn't see that he was disabled but that doesn't mean anything obviously.

I did shout out "I'm in here!"

I was taking a dump in the only toilet (it's accessible) in the M&S food hall at the Eastgate Centre in Bristol when all of a sudden there was a terrific banging on the door. Like a riot quad and the SAS all rolled into one. I was half way through so I just decided to finish as normal. When my hands were dried I open the door to see a manager-looking woman, several staff, and a sheepish looking thirtyish woman. She had wanted a piss and decided I was taking too long, so had fetched the manager. I was so angry. I'd been about 5 minutes.

No, where there is only one toilet provided it’s for everyone ( or at least in an ideal world it is)- frequently in small cafes with this set up disabled people can’t actually use the toilet because it’s too small,

but that’s a building problem not a you problem. It’s only a you problem if you don’t need an accessible toilet and there is an alternative toilet provided, but you choose to use the accessible toilet anyway.

See also: baby change put in accessible toilet- it’s a bag of wank but it isn’t the fault of the people who need to change babies, it’s the fault of the building management.

@Bigstones They’re meant to go red when you lift the handle on the inside. Technically speaking, a radar key door is not really locked when empty, it just needs the key to act like a handle as they don’t have one - unless you do lock it when you come out but I’ve never tried that

While I agree with what you’re saying, speaking as a wheelchair user with bowel issues, it’s sometimes very frustrating when you see someone come out of the accessible toilet who seemingly would have no difficulty in using a standard cubicle. Wheelchair users have no choice but to wait for an accessible loo as the chair won’t fit in the non disabled loos. Obviously I understand that those with stomas or bowel/bladder issues need the facilities offered such as a washbasin next to the loo etc. It just needs a bit of common sense and consideration for others.

Once again for those at the back-

If there is only one toilet- use it. Pissing on the floor is to be avoided if possible.

If there are 1/2/3/4 etc non accessible cubicles in a row and one accessible one- WAIT FOR A NON ACCESSIBLE ONE UNLESS YOU ARE DISABLED AND NEED THE ACCESSIBLE ONE. Yes, you might have to queue for 2 minutes longer, but that’s life I’m afraid. Suck it up and be grateful you have access to all the other cubicles provided- disabled people have access to the 1 accessible toilet, we don’t have a choice or an alternative and we might well piss on the floor if we have to wait for 10 able bodied people who ‘just popped in for a quick wee’.

Don't take advantage of provisions you don’t need, thereby further reducing the already shit accessibility of most venues and further disadvantaging an already disadvantaged group of people.

Its really very simple.

If the venue has only one toilet and it’s accessible, then you have no choice but to use it - that’s the fault of the building design, not you. But if there are standard cubicles available - even if they’re occupied, and you have no physical need to use an accessible toilet, then you should leave it free for someone who does. That’s the whole point.

@HunterHearstHelmsley
I agree
I absolutely hate it and it really stresses me out when someone bangs or rattles on disabled toilet door like that,

I've had that happen to me a couple or a few times,

I told one woman recently who did that to me off,
it royally pisses me off,

i haven't even been in the toilet unreasonable long time too,

in anything, doing that can give someone such a fright they could shit themselves in fright 😱

I had this just this week - just a bog standard loo and despite me shouting ‘in use’ they came back and rattled the handle within less than a minute only much more vigorously. Had only just got in there having had to wait 10 minutes for it in the first place.
Some people are just utter twats

I guess because by comparison there are fewer of them (accessible cubicles). Also because some people are impatient.

You just have to have a need to use an accessible toilet by way of physical disability/health condition. Some conditions like IBS are invisible, but the facilities offered in an accessible toilet such as a washbasin next to the loo etc, make clean up after an accident much easier than in a standard cubicle.

If the only toilet in the building is an accessible one, then you have to use it - that’s down to the building design. But if there are other standard cubicles and you have no physical need to use the accessible one, then yes, you leave it free for someone who can’t use the non accessible cubicles. If the queue is long, it still doesn’t entitle you to use facilities not meant for you. That’s common sense. It’s also common courtesy and consideration for others.

Well bloody hell. I’ve been rolling up to these doors forever and not know that. I think I’m always concentrating on opening the massive heavy door one handed towards my face, and not damaging my chair on the door frame to pay attention. That’s my excuse anyway.

Does that mean that when they are red the radar key shouldn’t open it from the outside? I’ve never had my key not unlock a radar door unless the door or lock is broken. I think there must be some standard radar doors and some that are not, otherwise no one would have ever used there key only to find someone in there… unless the someones that are in there hadn’t locked the door?!

Bloody toilets are a minefield 😃

But why rattle the door handles? I don't know anyone who would wittingly spend more time in a grotty public toilet than they actually need to. And I'd be mortified if I knew someone was skulking directly outside the cubicle trying to give me the hurry up!

how very rude to bang on the door, there is no excuse

Unfortunately not all Radar-key toilets have that fascia with the two red dots. So I generally knock on the door (with my key) before entering. I've only surprised somebody once in over ten years.

you should say something when you come out,
it is not necessary to bang on the door, you are in there

I think they still unlock from the outside - they probably need to for safety reasons too.

I had this happen in a services where some of the loos were out of order and so staff were directing people to use the accessible, there was a huge queue and when we got in it was revolting. DD does in fact need the accessible loo - she needed a full change as she'd soaked through her pads and then decided she needed a poo which always takes her forever, I was trying to get her changed without her putting her bare feet on the floor which was filthy, she was freaking out because it smelled bad, it was already very stressful and then people started hammering on the door, and she freaked out even more and tried to throw herself on the floor. When we came out it would have been obvious she is a disabled child and it still didn't stop people making rude comments about how long we'd taken.

Not sure an indicator would solve the problem. I was waiting in toilet queue recently (huge line for women’s) and a single independent unisex disabled was adjacent so I had a lot of time to watch as our queue ever so slowly advanced until you even got into the women’s. Anyway, a clearly disabled person went into the disabled. They were by themselves, no one with them waiting outside. Then a person in wheelchair pushed by someone came up to use it. After a few minutes the woman pushing the chair starts banging on the door and yelling that it’s only for disabled people and carrying on a real treat. I had considered yelling over that it was someone actually disabled in there, but given her ranting and raving thought it far more interesting to stay quiet and watch her embarrassment when the clearly disabled person exited the disabled toilet.

Going on a tangent….

I think nappy changing areas should be separated from toilet and definitely not put in disabled toilets.

I remember going into a Morrisons that had just one single toilet. A couple with a baby and a two year old got in there when there was already a queue of old people behind them and a man in a wheelchair and spent half an hour there doing I don’t know what, it was infuriating. I understand that a young child may need some cajoling to use the toilet but leaving 5 elderly people and a disabled one waiting for half an hour was fucking selfish whatever way you see it.

Yes, there are definitely some people out there who assume that they are the only person who matters, with everybody else just there to be accessories to their lives. They know that they sometimes need the toilet in a hurry, but they just don't have the wit to guess that other people might also be in the same position.

I don't know what the incessant bangers and door-shakers are hoping to achieve. If they do succeed in breaking down the door, as they seem intent on doing, then they won't have any privacy when it is their turn - and they'll probably still blame others and complain about 'selfish vandals'.

It's not some kind of special toilet-themed The Generation Game. The only 'prize' you're going to win is a close-up view of somebody sitting on the bog; there isn't a treasure chest full of gold doubloons just waiting for whoever can batter down the door to claim them.

What does a disabled parent do? They do exist!

You do have to knock to see if someone is there unfortunately as radar keys will often still open doors that are meant to be locked. Seems strange they did it for three minutes but maybe they couldn't hear very well. Disabled toilets need altering so they can be locked properly from inside.