Unisex public loos

[DameHelena]

Went to a cafe the other day that had a set-up that I’m not sure was lawful. There was a door with an image of the usual sort you see in loo signs, except rather than a male and a female one there was just one that was half-male/half-female, leading to a shared space with a sink, bin and hand dryer. One loo cubicle marked ‘accessible’ that had loo, sink, bins and dryer all in one lockable cubicle, and one not marked ‘accessible’, with just loo and sanitary bin. So if a woman or girl used that one, they’d potentially come out into the hand-washing area to see a man/boy there. I was with a friend and her pre-teen DD and felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of the DD being in this position.
Is this set-up technically allowed? I thought all unisex loo facilities had to be self-contained. It was in a town in Wales, if that’s relevant.

Blyth Services KFC has a joint unisex one, as I found out today. Travelling South, our daughter wanted a KFC.

I needed a pee and saw the sign on the door, assuming that it would be a single cubicle, one in, one out.

I went in and the first door of 4 was open, ladies sign. Second was closed, ladies sign. Next two were open, men's signs. I could tell that the closed one was occupied and went to the furthest men's one, got in and out as quickly as possible.

I felt extremely awkward, but was about to piss myself. I didn't feel like monitoring the door, for obvious reasons.

I didn't know you identified as the Toilet Monitor for Denmark. You might want to name change now you've outed yourself.

Wagamama in Cardiff is like this.
Also the loos are well away from the main area. My teenage dd was going alone and I only went with her as she asked me, a man came in straight after us, he could have easily pulled her into his cubicle and locked the door, as we had to squeeze past the men’s cubicles to get to the last few womens ones. It really frightened me, we haven’t been back.

I was in a service area on the M6 or M1 can't remember now and a bloke came out of the end cubicle and pushed by me without washing his hands and left.

The ones I’m thinking of are in listed arcades so perhaps that affects things.

But yes, two doors full-length doors into tiny rooms with a toilet and in one case sanitary bin, and in between them a shared sink, mirror and paper towels.

I think that shared handwashing is permissable, provided the cubicles are fully enclosed (not gaps top or bottom of doors or partitions), rather than having to be fully self contained. But I'd need to look it up to be certain.

I agree it would be really useful to have a checklist of the regulations and a template letter.

I'm happy to go have a go at drafting something this evening.

Is there a thread for template letters?

I'm in Leeds every day for work, in different cafes pubs shopping centres etc and have seen this twice, once in a restaurant and once in a bar. Seperate toilets but shared sinks. It did feel weird washing my hands and putting makeup on next to a bloke.

Having had a quick look, Women's Place UK has a template letter but it's for places considering changing to mixed sex rather than ones that already have them (and it's a bit wordy and heavy to send to somewhere like a small cafe, fine for big public institutions who have dedicated departments responsible for folowing regulations).

womansplaceuk.org/2020/02/27/mixed-sex-toilets-model-letter/

I'll use that as a basis and see if I can come up with something that's an easier read and that specifically says they are losing custom because of it.

The H&S at work 1992 regulations, section 20 sanitary conveniences, say that for mixed sex facilities the 'convenience' must be in an individual lockable room, but it's not clear whether 'convenience' means just the loo, or loo plus basin.

That's interesting. I think the word 'convenience' can be (mis)interpreted several ways. It is a synonym for a loo, yes, but I think can also mean other sanitation items like basins.