Mumsnet users share their experiences of public loos with Domestos

[EllieMumsnet]

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Trying to find a loo when you’re out and about with your kids can be challenging. How many times have you asked if your DCs need to go before you leave the house and then they are demanding a toilet not even five minutes into your outing? We’ve all been there! Which is why at Domestos we want to know about your experience of public loos.

How often do you need to locate a loo when you’re out with your family? And how difficult are they to find? How do you feel when you have to go in and ask staff to use the loo in a pub? Or a café you weren’t planning on buying a coffee from? Or do you even ask? Are you ever met with resistance from staff when you ask to use their loo? What would you change to make this experience easier?

Here’s what Domestos have to say: “Domestos believe everyone deserve access to a clean, safe toilet. In the UK the problem is locating a public toilet when we’re out and about, in other countries the problem is far more serious. Domestos is committed to providing solutions, and have an ambition to help 25 million people around the world get cleaner, safer toilets by 2020.”

Whatever your experience is with public loos, post them on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!
MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

They never seem to have working locks on! And very few are family friendly ie a pushchair can’t fit in. I remember as a child getting locked in the toilets outside of a gateway supermarket and the fire brigade having to come and get me out! I was about 3/4 yrs and I didn’t want to lock the door as I was scared I wouldn’t be able to open it but my nanny made me! Then of course I couldn’t open it! She mad me thank all the fire men who were there in the car park with a huge fire engine! Even at that age I was seething!

Mixed experiences! When out and about i normally look for a cafe or pub to take the kids in rather than a public loo on the street as I find they are usually cleaner.

I used to plan my trips out with the kids by the clean loos available. Public loos are always dire, made sure there were shops or cafes close enough to where we were. Wet wipes for a clean seat for my little one is a must!

Ugh! Don't get me started! Half the time I try and hold my pee so I can avoid public toilets but since having my second baby 6 months ago my bladder control is little to be desired lol!

The ones in my town centre are absolutely awful, they reek of stale pee and weeks old poo! I literally hold my nose or spray body spray I keep in my handbag if I must go!, even people forget to flush thesedays let alone wash their hands! You definitely feel cleaner going in than coming out! Those kinda places where you'd wipe your feet on the way out! Yuck!!

I think that we could probably tell you the location of every single toilet in Merseyside between 3 DC and me having IBS, you get to know where they are and which ones are cleaner etc

I think this is good, but I would also like to see disabled toilets being properly equipped. Many disabled people have to be changed on the floor of a toilet because there is no surface for them to lie on.

Proper public loos are most always revolting. Shops and cafes are much better - probably because they are staffed and cleaned throughout the day. I wonder if there is a way local authorities could reduce a business’ rates slightly if they made their loos available to the general public, not just customers.

I thought I was over the worst of it now my DC are toilet trained. I've had to lay my coat on the floor when needing to do a nappy change with no proper facilities. But my DD is still small so she has to hold herself above the toilet seat - which I don't like her doing in public toilets so I hold her over the seat - except she can't always go like this so we end up with a couple of toilet trips before she can go successfully.
Until we visited Gloucester Services - they have little toilets for small children. No more thigh burn from crouching to hold her over the seat! My new favourite toilets!

I’m suddenly back to having to find toilets with potty training ds. My big hate is tiny wee toilets where there’s no room to turn. (Ds’s is hand dryers, but I’m hoping he grows out of it).

I’m suddenly back to having to find toilets with potty training ds. My big hate is tiny wee toilets where there’s no room to turn. (Ds’s is hand dryers, but I’m hoping he grows out of it).

I hate using a public loo anywhere, why in 2018 can't we have free clean toilet's?

I hate public looks, only use them if unavoidable. Better here than in France though!

I'm not a big fan of public toilets although, as long as they are clean and feel safe, they are necessary.

I tend to avoid them but with kids.. Ive got no choice. So what I do is carry a toilet roll in my handbad and antibacterial wipes. It's a habit now

I avoid them as much as possible. Once you find one, you normally have to go in three of four cubicles before you find one that is clean enough to use, then you realise there is no toilet paper. Then to top it off, you see lots of people leaving without washing their hands!

The best public toilets are regularly cleaned and have sensor flushes and taps so you don't have to touch anything.

An improvement for me, would be the inclusion of automatic doors, or hand sanitisers located outside the entrance to the toilets so you can clean your hands after touching the door handles.

Most public loos seem to be scruffy and basic. Will use a shop loo if I can but even these are not always how one would wish. I always carry hand gel. Another thing I do is to take a small piece of loo paper or a tissue to use the handle when exiting the loo. Cannot believe how many people do not wash hands and don't ensure that children do likewise.

I hate having to use any public toilets because of the amount of people who you see bypass washing their hands , I open the door holding a piece of tissue in my hands and always have a little bottle of hand sanitiser in my handbag.

My 2 main gripes are the very very loud handdryers in the baby change that go off if you so much as look at them. My now toddler was and still terrified of them.

Often the baby change is out of use as is the disabled. I have a double buggy with a 2 year old and 11month old with another on the way and when that is the case I can't get the buggy into the ladies for anything. Which if it's mean is fine, I just hold it in desperation until I get home but try telling a 2 year old to wait that long!!

I don't tend to need the toilet when I'm out, but some of the times I have, I've always felt embarassed and cut my outing short so that I could go home. The other times I've asked if I was desperate and although they're not difficult to find most of the times, some of the conditions are absolutely appalling which puts me off going.

i really hate using public loos, in my town they are filthy, even the ones in our local shopping centre which were re furbished recenetly are horrible

As mum of a 15mo the need for the loo is often combined with the need to change a nappy or at the very least, be able to keep a watchful eye on my little one.

Tough to find, I'm always particularly distressed when retailers or outlets I would expect to be accessible or have facilities available do not.

If I do have to go to a cafe or pub I feel compelled to make a purchase to justify my visit!!

You don't notice how bad public loos are until you start potty training. I have distinct memories of holding the 2 year old over filthy toilets with the newborn in a sling.

I wish baby changing facilities weren't so often put in the Ladies. It makes it hard for dads.

My pet peeves is no loo roll.

DS is 3: I always plan wee breaks into our outings, but we are also well versed in the joys of an 'outside wee' (him, not me I hasten to add!)

I think the best public loos are at Gatwick airport.
Lots and lots and lots of cubicles. Some much larger for wheelchair users or people with kids in tow.
A place to hang your bag so it doesn’t get dirty on the floor.
Self flushing.
Loads of proper anti bac foaming handwash, automatically dispensed.
Music playing to muffle bodily noises.
Cleaned every 30 mins.

That’s my idea of a good public toilet.

By contrast I have travelled through rural India where people have no choice but to go the the toilet in fields or over railway tracks. There is no flush. There is no toilet paper. There is no place to wash your hands and certainly no automatic anti bacterial soap dispenser.
And thousands of children die every year because of this.
So actually we are bloody lucky.