40p to spend a penny (but you can use contactless)

IT seems enough of a cheek to be charged 20p to spend a penny. So residents are likely to be even less amused to learn that one authority is putting the price for using its public toilets up to 40p.

But amid widespread opposition, Pembrokeshire County Council is trying to soften the blow. While it announced yesterday that it is doubling the charge for using ten of its public toilets from April, users will not have to carry any extra loose change – as they will be able to pay by contactless credit or debit card.

Charges could be introduced at a further 62 sites which are currently free. The council – which is urging the Welsh Government to fall into line with England and scrap business rates on toilets – claims a price rise is needed to improve facilities.

Cris Tomos, cabinet member for the environment and Welsh language, said 4 0 people had responded to a public consultation. ‘The majority did not want to see an increase in the level but it’s human nature that we want to maintain prices lower,’ he said. The move comes as the BBC found the number of council-run toilets in the UK has fallen from ,1 9 to 4,486 in eight years,

Network Rail has announced it will scrap charges for station toilets this year, with chief executive Mark Carne saying it is ‘quite wrong to penalise people when they are in discomfort’.