The idea of switching locks in a public pay-to-use toilet in Yarmouth — to stop sneaky users — has been branded as absolutely ridiculous by the town mayor.
Almost 18 months ago, Yarmouth Town Council installed its pay-to-use toilets, on Bridge Road and on Yarmouth Common, at a cost of nearly £160,000.
Since then, up until the end of September, the facilities have generated around £10,500 for the council.
Dodging the 20p fee
However, a recurring issue has been noticed recently, with people able to dodge the 20p fee to use them.
Cubicle doors are being deliberately left open as people leave the lock bolt out, so the following user gets free entry.
New system would cost £7,600
Upon investigation, Danfo, the makers of the Bridge Road toilets, estimated the cost of changing the manual lock to a button system would be £7,600.
To recoup the money back for the new lock, the toilet would have to be used 38,000 times.
Allen: An absolutely ridiculous suggestion
Speaking at the Yarmouth Town Council meeting last week, Cllr Jamie Allen, town mayor, said it was an absolutely ridiculous suggestion and people would find a way to overcome the new lock system, like they do in other places around the Island.
Cllr Allen said the different locking mechanism was not available at the time the toilets were installed but it was not a sensible retrofit now.
Agreed not necessary to change
Councillors agreed, judging by the takings, it was not necessary to change the lock and said some people were honest and did pay to use the facilities.
Since installing the toilets, it has saved the town council around £2,500 in operational costs a year.
Loan to buy toilets
It borrowed the money to install the toilets from the Public Works Loan Board and repays £7,744 each year.
Councillors agreed the toilets was a good investment and the situation seemed to be better than before.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is taking part in. Some alterations and additions may have been made by OnTheWight. Ed
Image: Nick Fewings under CC BY 2.0
