DESPERATION AND DISTRESS… YOUR VIEWS ON THE LOO LOCKDOWN
SINCE 1984, when our 16-year-old daughter died, we have been tending her grave at Mortlake Cemetery, which is managed by Hammersmith and Fulham Council. Now in my late 70s, with bowel problems, I need to know where the loos are and need them to be accessible. We have a long journey there and back and use these toilets regularly on our visits.
On our last visit to the cemetery, the toilets were closed. This causes huge distress. I simply can’t go back to tend my daughter’s grave without knowing if the toilets are open.
Mrs A Martin, by email
I SUFFER from inflammatory bowel disease, so knowing where the toilets are is important. I was called to attend the flu clinic at my GP surgery, and needed to go urgently. They refused and said I could try the pub across the road – but by then it was too late. I had to go straight home, humiliated and tearful, feeling shame sitting in the car next to my husband. That a GP surgery could refuse this basic human right to use the bathroom was disgusting. I did speak to the GP about this, and he said it was on Government advice.
Gemma, by email
THROUGHOUT lockdown I didn’t go out for my allowed exercise, as I knew there were no public toilets open. With cafes and pubs shut, I couldn’t even wave my ‘Just Can’t Wait’ card at anyone. Now I’m so unfit I couldn’t fight Covid off if you paid me. After lockdown my family planned a day out at the seaside but I couldn’t go, as there would be no open toilet on the journey or once I got there. If toilets don’t reopen, what am I expected to do? Never have a day out again?
Mandy Sigey, 59, London
I HAVE a weak bladder. If I go to town shopping, I wear usually three incontinence pads and three pairs of tight pants to hold everything close. If I dare to even have an extra cuppa or a cold drink, God help me. Once I got back to my car in a closed car park and was fit to burst so I squatted down – the relief was enormous but then I cried at the loss of my dignity.
Anonymous, by email
I LIVE in a small town of some 12,000 residents, seven miles outside Aberdeen. Until three years ago we had public toilets but the council closed them permanently. Our shopping centre supermarkets do have toilets but they have been closed since lockdown.
Anonymous, by email
I HAVE a hernia and need an operation – but this has been postponed because of Covid. It means I have to go to the loo more frequently. As a bus driver, I am driving for four or five hours without a break, so getting to a public loo is very important. I drive a bus around all day and the public loos have been shut here since the start of the pandemic. What am I and other people to do?
Gerald Barry, 65, Somerset
THE lack of public toilets is not a trivial issue. I recently wrote to the CEO of Marks & Spencer because the customer toilet in my local store is still closed. There is not one toilet open within seven miles!
Christine Price, 65, by email
SINCE March, I’ve been imprisoned – I have Crohn’s and when I need the toilet, I need it urgently. Why do we have public toilets? To stop people defecating and urinating in public. As for using shops, cafes etc – I have bought coffees and so on to become a ‘customer’ in order to use the facilities. I’ve been put in the humiliating situation of begging when the situation has become more dire. This has been a continuing battle for many with bowel diseases.
Pamela Waller, 70, Orpington
IF STORES want business to pick up, loos HAVE to be available for pregnant women, children and the elderly. For the older generation, a shopping trip, coupled with a coffee or lunch out, is an outing – so if stores and cafes close their toilets they have no chance of getting these customers back.
Janet, by email
I LIVE in Aberdeen and after several months of lockdown, my first trip out of the city was blighted by the lack of a public toilet in the country park we visited. Despite needing food and drink, I could not risk having either as the lack of facilities would have caused me severe problems.
Liz Clark, 64, Aberdeen
BOTH my wife and I are in our 70s and housebound – not because we’re afraid of Covid, but by the lack of toilets in places where we are allowed to visit. R. Davies, by email
FOLLOWING the introduction of more restrictions in Scotland, we went for a walk in Strathclyde Park, only to find the toilets closed. Every time I go out, I have to ask: will a toilet be available?
Maureen Gallagher, 61, Glasgow