To expect the toilet in the park to be open?

[PassingStranger]

Lots of people in the park today as it's a Sunny Bank Holiday.
Picnics, walks, bike rides etc.
Council closed all the toilets how crazy?
Talk about not care about people?

There are toilets at DD’s local big park, but they close at 5 pm - presumably because of drugs or other unsavoury activities.

Ours too. I've stopped going now due to medical needs.

I go to a lot of quieter areas. The problem with finding toilets closed is that people will just choose to go around them. Over time, this can leave a big mess.

TBF by the time they've got to a toilet to find it closed, it probably is not much of an actual choice to go nearby. There's only so long that bodily control lasts.

Yes, public toilets should be mandatory. If that means charging for them - with possibly an override scheme for those with medical conditions - then so be it.

An alternative, in some areas might be to pay businesses an allowance to open their toilets for public use, regardless of whether you are a customer or not. Or a scheme that requires them to open their toilets but for a small fee per person, as above.

With a sign in the window showing there is a toilet for use inside.

There are some fantastic self cleaning public toilet cubicles that could be used in more remote areas. Again with a fee scheme.

In short, there feels like multiple ways this could be tackled. Not for the first time I despair at how unwilling governments (maybe voters) in this country are to try something new in the spirit of public betterment.

There’s a scheme Just Can’t Wait - show a card to a member of staff and they MAY allow you to visit the staff loos with being escorted. My work has a customer toilet - we don’t have a cafe. It causes more problems than solves them. Such as people pooing on the floor, smoking, people blocking the loo with about a quarter of the commercial loo roll etc.

Back to the Just Can’t Wait cards. We are not allowed to have customers entering the back area as to walk to the toilets, you walk past two of the three areas of high value stock. Plus these cards are abused by people who don’t have a toilet issue. As can get a card for £1 online. In the same way as the sunflower lanyards were/still are abused by the Covid deniers refusing to wear masks.

My local council has closed most of the public toilets too. In our local park there is a pay 20p in a slot one. It’s the last public toilet in town. Or it was till some idiots set fire to it. Completely melted the baby change unit and the place is just black. Council is skint, there’s no way that’s being reopened till next financial year.

I think the biggest problem is vandalism
/ drug taking/ antisocial behaviour. Can’t leave loos unmanned, can’t pay staffing costs to keep them open.

I was in Sicily a few years ago and desperate for a wee. Noticed in one of the squares of the town I was it was a sign for WC and went to it. There was a charge of a Euro.

At the bottom of the stairs was a small area with a woman sitting at a table reading an Italian version of Pick Me Up - very colourful. Didn't see me coming but heard me - "un euro per favore" then put an open hand for me to place my Euro. Then there were two loos - one male and one female. The toilets were disgusting and no loo roll.

Felt very pissed off to pay a Euro for that.

Go before you leave.

Most people are only in the park for a couple of hours.

I would definitely need to go in that time even if I did go before I left the house, especially if we were eating or drinking there. There are no cafes or shops with toilets near our park and I or my DD have sometimes had to wee in a bush. The park is in a town not in the middle of nowhere but the nearest toilets are 20 min walk away which is no good when out with children.

Even courier drivers struggle to find toilets. Even now some regular clients refuse them to use their toilets.

I am thankful there are toilets around but they are a privilege not a right

WTAF?! Being able to use a toilet isn't a privilege, it's a basic human right!

Some roads in the city a few miles from me have kept the pointless pop up cycle lanes which I seen zero cyclists use and some roads have what are similar to kerbstones and the same colour as the road - to border the vehicle lane to cycle lane. Can see cars and vans pulling over to let an emergency vehicle on its blues pass, and smacking onto one of these border stones and puncture their tyre. No one wanted these pop up lanes - so why waste OUR MONEY on poxy and unwanted schemes?

I was driving down a A road and pulled over to let an ambulance through and it my tyre on a broken kerbstone - couldn't see it was broken as grass was growing over it. As it was this time of the year which is No Mow May which turns to be Not Mow At All. Its some kind of BS councils say to promote wildflowers and wildlife to grow and live there. No wildlife is going to live in hedges which are noisy and full of pollutants. We all know what NMM is all about - saving money.

Councils are reactive and not proactive. If they cut the verges more regularly - the kerbstones and road surface won't get damaged from weeds growing through them and therefore the lifespan of kerbstones and road surfaces are increased. So this manner is going to cost MORE MONEY

Yes I agree with this, I need the toilet about 10-15 or so times a day I am thankful there are toilets around but they are a privilege not a right

I totally disagree - they are a right and a medical need.

Not a privilege.

And to the other pp, it's not as easy as "go before you leave". Many people do, but that doesn't stop them needing to go again an hour 5 minutes later!

I was driving down a A road and pulled over to let an ambulance through and it my tyre on a broken kerbstone - couldn't see it was broken as grass was growing over it. As it was this time of the year which is No Mow May which turns to be Not Mow At All. Its some kind of BS councils say to promote wildflowers and wildlife to grow and live there. No wildlife is going to live in hedges which are noisy and full of pollutants. We all know what NMM is all about - saving money

No Mow May isn't about money, it's about stopping people mowing their lawns every couple of days which causes noise pollution and is bad for wildlife.

Wildlife does live in hedges.

And councils can be the worst at ignoring NMM and mowing anyway.

However it is annoying when they let weeds take over paving stones but that's different to not mowing where they don't need to.

You have Madame Pipi in France and Belgium, you can usually give her any amount you want, but generally they are quite ferocious at keeping the loos clean and I am very happy to pay €1 for that as it isn’t a particularly pleasant job but their presence keeps it nice for everyone.

Yes I made more than one post… but the one about my dad was well before your comment back to me. You just didn’t read it. Not sure how that is my fault? Yes I have used the internet before, hence why I know that posts go in order of, er, posting. You’re smarting because you started a thread where everyone, including me, disagreed with you. Transparent as a window…

I’m not sure you have used the internet before. I didn’t start this thread. lol.

Yeah I’ve met them, if you give them a euro they will give you some loo roll

At our local authority, the car park money goes to the traffic wardens. They are apparently a self funding department. Other departments go begging for the surplus. Traffic wardens are all wearing £200 quid summer boots as winter ones were too heavy/ hot. I bc would agree some of that money should be used for local loos.

Where did I say you started anything? I said that posts come in the order that they are posted.

my local government issues grants of up to £500 to businesses with toilets to allow people to use them. Garages, churches, cafes.

That's amazing.

My town has a population of 19,000 (possibly more now, with more housebuilding) and 3 public toilets. We have 3 supermarkets, but only one (Tesco) has toilets.

The council toilets are locked at 7pm, too, which is a bugger when you're walking home from the pub with a bladder full of beer.