Lack of public loos

The majority of children need to go to the bathroom within just 30 minutes of leaving the house and seven in ten parents say they are forced to make their children ‘wild wee’ if they cannot find a toilet in time.

New research by Domestos and Mumsnet found that eight in ten parents regularly struggle to find a suitable public toilet for their child when out and about, with just one in five reporting that the toilets they can access are clean enough to use. What’s more, half of parents (54%) feel forced to buy the cheapest thing in a café, pub or restaurant just so they can use the toilet, while a quarter (27%) resort to cutting short their outing and returning home. One in ten have even made up a sob story so owners will let them use the facilities.

This study marks the next wave of a national campaign called Use Our Loos, which launched in 2018 in reaction to the closure of nearly 40 per cent of UK public toilet facilities in the past twenty years. With nearly 12,000 high street businesses having now opened their conveniences to the community, Use Our Loos wants to expand the programme further by finding loos in the precise locations where UK parents are in most need.

Use Our Loos will be piloting new B-Loo-tooth Mapping Technology in the areas most affected by public toilet closures and for one month selected parents each will carry the proprietary B-Loo-tooth enabled buttons everywhere they go. Pressed when they and their children are in greatest need, the buttons will produce an intelligent heatmap of their neighbourhoods, which the brand will then use to focus its campaign to encourage local businesses to join the Use Our Loos scheme.

Aston spoke to Raymond Martin, director at British Toilet Association and Anna Cook, spokesperson for Mumsnet to discuss the research in further detail and also about the Use Our Loos campaign.