Bathroom bandits on loo-ting spree

IT is a case of “a-loo-ta continua” for two Bay “bathroom bandits” – with no less than five toilet seats pilfered by the pair.

Branded as bandits by staff at Port Elizabeth’s popular Stage Door Pub and Phoenix Hotel, the first toilet seat thief was outed on social media last week after being caught on CCTV footage on Wednesday.

The man was clearly seen making off with a toilet seat from an upstairs woman’s bathroom at the Central eatery.

After putting out a R3 000 reward in the hope of flushing out the culprit, staff at the hotel were shocked yesterday when members of the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) called asking to view the footage, as they too were trying to track a toilet thief.

Phoenix Hotel general manager Nadine Prinsloo said yesterday: “I was shocked. It’s crazy that it’s also happening to other people. I don’t know what to make of this.”

Making the phenomenon even stranger, Prinsloo said, was the fact that the person caught on the hotel’s CCTV footage was not the same man caught on camera at the Norwich bus terminus.

The man at the bus terminus made off with two toilet seats last Tuesday.

The MBDA manages the Norwich bus terminus from where the toilet seats – valued at R300 each – were stolen.

MBDA spokesman Luvyo Bangazi confirmed the theft, saying: “Our town rangers are in touch with the Humewood Police Station gathering evidence in order to open a docket.”

He too confirmed that the bus terminus bandit was not the same man seen skulking out of the Phoenix Hotel.

While the hotel thief simply placed his pilfered goods in a plastic packet, the Norwich crook made more elaborate plans.

Carrying a large piece of wood in a packet, the man spent about 45 minutes in the bathroom, wrapping the toilet seat in the packet and abandoning the wood.

“Apparently the fellow packed the bag to give it a bit of profile,” Bangazi said.

Last week, Stage Door Pub and Phoenix Hotel owner Warwick Ofsowitz said the eatery had lost three toilet seats, over an eightmonth period, to theft.

He appealed to residents to help track the culprit.

“We need to stop this man before other people’s tushes are left cold. This is no laughing matter.”

We need to stop this man before other people’s tushes are left cold. This is no laughing matter