Leisure centre call police on one woman with a hand sewn #redflag banner

[WhoopsINameChangedAgain]

On Saturday 27 September 2025, in a leafy suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, one lone woman protested the recent decision to change the leisure centre single sex changing rooms into one mixed sex area with no changes to the changing cubicles.

Despite the peacefulness of the protest, and considerable positive engagement from service users who stopped to chat to her, the staff called the police.

Thankfully the officer was rightly not concerned and happy for her to continue her peaceful protest.

https://x.com/wrn_neandnyorks/status/1972197438363713594?s=46&t=A2fpFNgDRyXF2d6ye97wEA

Pics for those not on twitter; police officer can be seen through doorway behind her.

Hexham

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/pervert-filmed-children-hexham-leisure-1371063

Wallsend
https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/flashed-children-wallsend-leisure-centre-31283171

blaydon

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/corbridge-man-guilty-voyeurism-after-7216723

“The court was also told how Philip visited Blaydon swimming pool and took footage under the doors of changing cubicles. Images were discovered of women drying themselves and of a young girl, although the latter footage was said to be “not indecent.””

So many incidents - and that's just the tip of the iceberg - and still nothing is done. Truly disgusting how unimportant the privacy and dignity of women and girls is.

and that's just the tip of the iceberg

In just one small part of the UK!

Crikey, all those individual crimes and none of the bastards got jail. It's very worrying, it's absolutely no deterrent at all. My 12 year old uses Hadrian Road, Waves and Tynemouth pool.

‘He was also made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order for five years, banning him from owning recording devices or being in a public place unsupervised where females are undressing.…’

this was the Hexham offender’s PUNISHMENT?! All men, with the exception of little boys with their mums, should be banned from public places where females are undressing. Just what exactly is so difficult about this?!

thank you OP for your stance - my little nieces live in gosforth and i dread to think.

Should have given a description and not just the URL. This is the Women's Rights Network's short video cataloguing some of the sexual offending in mixed sex changing villages

I swim at a pool with a changing village that feels safe. It has a low wall separating it from the pool, the lifeguards are seated next to the wall so you always have staff who can hear what is going on in the changing area, nothing other than people getting changed. It always seems to work well.

Is there a gap above or below the partition wall to the adjacent cubicle? If so, there is a risk of voyeurism. No way the staff will spot it at floor level between cubicles

No there is a tiny gap above the door which I don't think is big enough to be an issue. There is a small gap under the door, I'm not sure if anyone could use that.

There are communal male/female changing rooms but you can't use them in school hours as they are for school groups.

Id honestly feel more vulnerable in the communal room as staff would be much less likely to know if something was happening in there, very easy at a quiet time for someone to go in there unnoticed.

I suppose we all assess danger differently.

I started using "family changing villages" as a mum of boys so have always found it useful and convenient. Luckily, I have never had or seen an incident (as far as I know). It is quite busy with families usually. I do however play on my phone while waiting outside the cubicle for my son and have never been challenged - whether because they don't challenge or because as a middle-aged mum, I'm probably not a threat.

When I think about the thousands of girls filmed by the London gang I wonder how I would feel in their place. Would you want to know you'd been filmed and naked images of you are probably now on the internet? Or is it better not to know? What affect has this had on possibly thousands of girls and young women? Have they given up swimming/exercise forever? Will they have shorter, less healthy lives as a result?

I went swimming on Monday at Washington leisure centre and this thread popped into my head. Its a mixed sex changing village, with separate male and female toilets. The changing village has cubicles, lockers and showers. There are huge gaps under the doors and huge gaps above the doors, on both the showers and cubicles. Definitely not purpose built for mixed sex safety. I had never even noticed before but I suddenly felt very self conscious getting naked in the cubicle. I could reach my hand over the door, and at the bottom was about a ruler size gap. Maybe a bit smaller. Shocking!

That's the thing though, isn't it? Mixed sex "village change" is presented as the norm, so any objections are immediately outliers caused by prejudice rather than safeguarding.

Greetings all! A follow up meeting with the leisure centre operator has thrown up an anomaly.... while women pretty much universally dislike mixed sex changing villages, particularly when they are dark, have blind corners and huge gaps for cameras between cubicles, the operator reports that have been NO complaints at the leisure centre we protested.

Please, I beg you all - if you see someething dodgy or are unhappy about changing or toilet provision at a leisure centre ask to speak to the manager and complain. Request a response to your complaint. If you don't want to complain in person most operators have a feedback form online where you can have your say.

They can't fix it if they don't know it's broken. We need to speak up.

Thank you @MrsM1ggins! Are you able to report anything else from your meeting?

Women go quiet and leave, rather than complain. Women feel they have to accept being anxious and afraid in order to access resources apparently provided for them.

Fight
Flight
Freeze
Fawn
Flop

The last reaction most women use is Fight, because we know we are easily overpowered by men. But written complaints are also Fight reactions. You are right - we need to complain. Loudly. Every time. Not just when something has gone wrong, but before something completely predictable happens.

I have been avoiding my refurbished local pool because of the vile ‘changing village’. I’m going to bite the bullet and go for a swim so that I can complain about it.

Things went as well as they could have done really. We were able to have an open and honest conversation and it was clear that they care about their customers.

We discussed the comments made here and elsewhere about Gosforth (see attached), the issues with the mixed sex changing due to the layout of the CR and design of the cubicles. We specifically spoke about the inadequacy of the toilet provision for privacy, particularly in relation to menstruation / menopause.

We discussed the broader issues surrounding the move to mixed sex changing villages everywhere and the lack of risk assessment that preceeded that change. (Took the opportunity to talk about West Denton which will also be run by Better)

We spoke about indirect sex discrimination and indirect religion/belief discrimination.

They have committed to going away and discuss our points with their org. I don’t think we can ask for more; the people in the room arent the decision makers and don’t hold the purse strings.

More to come, I hope.

I forgot to mention, and probably should have, that I did complain about the facilities back in July when being shown around the leisure centre. Clearly commments/complaints to individual staff members don't always make it up the chain. I would assume this isn't only a problem in Gosforth, hence my call to please complain OFFICIALLY.

Hello finally caught up with this thread.
I campaign for safe loos so have been looking at cubicle design for a few years. I can give you my thoughts on why I think there should be single sex changing rooms as a default.

It used to actually discuss in older building regs, that single sex toilet cubicles have gaps (150mm) at the bottom of partitions and doors and gaps could be above a 2000mm door. This was for the following health and safety points:
Supervision
Prevention of Wilful Misuse
Ventilation
Cleaning

‘Supervision’ is making sure the occupant is ok. ‘Prevention of wilful misuse’ is about sex, drugs and vandalism.

I don’t know about changing rooms regulations but I know from manufacturers and cleaners some practical points of gaps and cubicles.

In a swimming pool, obviously humidity is high and you need to decrease standing water and get rid of hairs, plasters, bubbles, urine, blood, chlorinated water that will build up. To wash that all out and drain you need the door gaps. I know from research on toilets, bleach, which is used for preventing mildew and killing germs, is a nightmare for eating through cubicle partitions. Water also warps doors so they don’t shut.
You need ventilation to dry cubicles out as they are constantly in contact with water.

With toilets, doors need to have the ability to be able to open outwards, in case people collapse. There should be simple safety locks, easily released from outside for access in case of emergency. This is particularly important where elderly or disabled persons or children are involved.

So ‘Lockable’ does not mean totally secure. This has been abused and can be a particular hazard in unisex toilets which are designed to be sound resistant and private.

It is much safer, in particular for anyone medically vulnerable, not to be in a cubicle/room that is private. (For example 11% of cardiac arrests happen on the loo). It makes it worse for women and children if it’s a private cubicle/room that is in a mixed sex area. Leisure Centres have defibrillators but if someone starts to feel ill in the pool or sports hall they stop what they are doing and go to get changed or go to the loo. People need to know if they have collapsed in order to use the defibrillator in time.

According to one toilet manufacturer, they suggested a 5mm gap was needed from floor to door to prevent voyeurism. But then you lose the health and safety benefits. Voyeurism is a male crime. In toilets, I think the biggest threat is from hidden cameras. They are pretty ubiquitous now which is why I feel I don’t feel so bad mentioning it as I am not giving ideas to people. Maybe in the tougher humid pool environment they may not last but it is easier to spend time in a private unisex toilet with the extra ventilation and equipment they need, to position and adjust them.

With toilets there is no such new design as a mixed sex toilet with door gaps. In building regs mixed sex toilet cubicles have to be private.

To summarise: I know that if you have cubicles, you need gaps for health and safety therefore single sex cubicles with a single sex area in front of them should be the default.

Thank you so much. It's great to get input from someone who has some expertise in this area.

I have been very critical of the toilets they have installed. Do you know if the previous versions of Approved Document T had the same definition of universal toilet? I have the 2024 release and the current facilities ARE NOT compliant, but I don't have any documents showing the rules at the time the work was done. If you have copies of the earlier versions of the relevent regs that would be really helpful.

I've been told the changes were done around covid.

Go, you! It takes a lot of guts, courage, and conviction to put yourself out there like that. It only takes one person to make a difference!

I wish we had a vomit emoji. Pigs. No, pigs are intelligent. Perverted predators. Nonces. Sick fucks.

How many more women must be harmed? Don’t answer, I know. They don’t give a rat’s ass.

They KNOW it happens, feck’s sake!