The chain has been pulled by train station and council authorities, but they still can’t flush the anger mounting at the state of our public toilets.
The issue has been cause for complaint this week, not least because the profits created by a simple lavvy in British train stations have been unveiled by a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
According to data released by Network Rail, London Victoria Station made £2.3 million in 2014 from public toilets alone. Other big earners were Euston (£1.8 million), King’s Cross (£1.4 million) and Paddington (£1.2 million).
It’s a lot of cash – but most of it doesn’t go towards public toilet maintenance.
Instead, the improvement of other facilities is given priority, while rail toilets remain underfunded.
The wider problem
But the toilet crisis stretches further than train stations. Eight local authorities in the UK have no public toilets at all.
With no legal obligation to provide conveniences, public toilets are inevitably the first services to be axed. But why should your bladder be a victim to austerity?
Beyond the need to relieve yourself in train stations and on the go, there is a far wider issue at hand for public washrooms. Without clean toilets, hygiene levels will diminish nationwide, leading to an increase in germs and, in turn, illness.
If you’re the owner of a cafe or public house, then, you’ll notice a sharp increase in the number of customers emerging from the street to use your washroom, especially with rail and council efforts in such a poor state.
When they do enter your business, you can impress them with impeccable hygiene and a glittering washroom.
So don’t take a one-way ticket to toilet squalor – beat the public services with effective washrooms of your own.
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