No separate women's or disabled toilets at Gas station M&S toilets

[Capitalismwantsyou]

Just a rant. I went into a BP/M&S gas station today and used the loo. There was a men's toilets, as marked by the "man" symbol. Then there was another toilet marked with all 3 symbols for women, baby change and disabled. I was gob smacked at the sheer sexism and disregard for disabled people. On top of that it was disgusting.

as a woman who drives a lot, with young children, I value women only toilets....this would bother me hugely. If M&S want to lose our custom then so be it. Why not offer women only, and inclusive of everyone?

A gas station?

Presumably they only had room for two toilets. One larger than the other, so suitable for the disabled and with room for a baby changing unit.

They could have made that the men's, but I imagine that any mums needing to change their babies would be uncomfortable with that.

I see this as much the same as my local coffee place which only has one toilet, so it's unisex/disabled/baby changing in one. Petrol stations don't have loads of room for extra facilities.

A few months ago we stopped at a petrol station at the start of the M20. It had two toilets. One was labelled Men's. The other was labelled Men's/Women's/Disabled. As I went to try to enter the latter, a man (not physically disabled) came out.
So the men have 2 loos to choose from, everyone else has to wait for them to finish. Bloody ridiculous.

I can't see why you'd get worked up over this. The other one probably has a urinal in it and stinks far worse. A small petrol station doesn't have a lot of space.

Was it a single enclosed toilet? Or was it a room with multiple cubicles inside?

So why not a unisex toilet and disabled one? However, they decided men needed their own safe space...

Petrol station?

Surely that just means one has a urinal and one has a toilet.

Assuming they were single enclosed toilets I cannot see why this is a problem? Surely the men’s has a urinal and the other has a toilet/baby changing. It’s a petrol station, how many toilets do you think they can fit in

I would go into the men’s if the other one was occupied. They are normally a single room toilet anyway in petrol stations

Couldn't get worked up about it, the mens will have a stinky urinal and if a man needs a poo he needs a cubicle. Petrol stations are smal unless you're taking about motorway services.

A highly sensible and reasoned response!

Have you seen the risk assessment fir that OP?

I think they've probably assessed the condition of men's v women's toilets generally, after public usage, and made their decision accordingly.

Was it the sort of toilets where it’s a single enclosed toilet and sink rather than a row of cubicles? Most toilets I’ve been into in petrol stations have been the single room toilet sort.

If it’s that sort of thing and there was only room for two toilets, then it really would make more sense to have the smaller toilet as a unisex toilet, and the larger one as a combined disabled toilet / baby change.

We were at an m&s petrol station toilet a few years ago and there was a room with 8 or so urinals and a cubicle in and then one single toilet for womens, disabled and baby change

massive queue

The petrol station I was talking about, it was two single toilet cubicles opposite each other in a small lobby. Both were labelled men's, but one was also labelled women's and disabled. So men had the choice of either single (male) sex or unisex, but women only had the choice of unisex.

Thats ridiculous

I don’t tend to take any notice of individual cubicles marked male…if there is a queue at the ladies I’ll use the other ones as long as its not disabled or baby change

Huh?

Me too! I certainly wouldn't hang around in the scenario the OP describes.

Gas rather than petrol - ie US versus UK. Doesn't matter, I think we understand what a gas station is.

This is such a non issue... In the grand scheme of things does it really matter?

Just to note you had no idea just by looking at him if he was justified in using the accessible toilet.

How is this about men having a safe space?

Neither toilet is shared, they are 2 individual toilets.

I use disabled toilets often. You won't 'see' my disability either. It is physical as in I am affected physically, but unless you can see inside my lungs you wouldn't have a clue.