Free toilets always attract the wrong 'sort' of people, and are invariably a mess or completely wrecked (although there are some good examples around, but of course will be subsidised by the local council).
Even with staff I've seen some toilets at railway stations that are disgusting. I've also seen passengers trying to use other parts of the station as toilets, including lifts...
Free toilets always attract the wrong 'sort' of people, and are invariably a mess or completely wrecked
This is one reason why I think 30p to pay at Manchester Piccadilly railway station is only a small price to pay for a modern, clean and hygienic establishment situated in a good situation on the railway station.
Let us be fair, there is very little that 30p buys these days and when you are desperate to relieve yourself, it becomes even less of a concern.
This is one reason why I think 30p to pay at Manchester Piccadilly railway station is only a small price to pay for a modern, clean and hygienic establishment situated in a good situation on the railway station.
Let us be fair, there is very little that 30p buys these days and when you are desperate to relieve yourself, it becomes even less of a concern.
I'm going to have to disagree with you here, relieving oneself is a basic human need, and to have to pay for it seems extortionate, especially at 30p, I thought they were usually 20p, or even less....I'd rather a little less cleanliness, and my 30p happily in my pocket to be honest
At Piccadilly I just use the toilets on a stationary 390 waiting its next turn or boarding!
I do also recell when it did cost one old penny (1 d) to spend a penny, that rate lasted for about 100 years, then when we went decimal in the early 1970s it changed to one new penny, (which was infact 100 per cent increase as a new penny equalls one old penny), then the charges slowly increased to the rates they are now.
Some of the stations in Europe charge you 1 euro which quite alot, although in Cologne, when I was there a few years ago, you had a choice of 50 cents to stand or 1 euro if you required a cubicle..
I very much agree with this. I always feel that you can rely on Network Rail managed large stations to have pleasant paid for toilets.This is one reason why I think 30p to pay at Manchester Piccadilly railway station is only a small price to pay for a modern, clean and hygienic establishment situated in a good situation on the railway station.
Let us be fair, there is very little that 30p buys these days and when you are desperate to relieve yourself, it becomes even less of a concern.
I was very disappointed with Richmond although thankfully the barrier was down when I visited.I seem to recall that Richmond (Mdx)'s toilets are 30p a time, and are in awful condition, graffiti everywhere and so dark you can only see three yards in front of you at any given point!
I very much agree with this. I always feel that you can rely on Network Rail managed large stations to have pleasant paid for toilets.
Leeds is a funny station seeing as you can get to the free toilets once past the barrier. I wonder how many people who are going to catch a train go and pay 30p when they could save that money.
At Piccadilly I just use the toilets on a stationary 390 waiting its next turn or boarding!
Also York's toilets are free, and also nice toilets.
Travelling over in France and Germany at the start of the year, some service stations have toilets which you have to pay 20 cents, but you get a token to spend the 20 cents back in the service station for food or a drink, which is a bit better.
London Underground have a number of stations with free toilets, a number of which I have used but are in a pretty sorry state. With LUL's graffiti policy meaning graffiti doesn't remain long that isn't too much of a problem, but they all appear a bit dated and worn out. Many have restrictive opening hours.
There is a toilets map here: www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/toilets-map.pdf (warning - pdf)
Leeds is a funny station seeing as you can get to the free toilets once past the barrier. I wonder how many people who are going to catch a train go and pay 30p when they could save that money.
I suspect a lot don't know about the free ones and use the ones pre-barrier. Of course, there are two lots of them as well (I think one of them may back onto the paid ones!)