Public loos are one of life’s joys – Porthcawl’s anti-sex toilets are ruining the fun for everyone

I’m sure Porthcawl could spend its money elsewhere, maybe on something that didn’t deter rough sleepers?

For women, toilets are confessionals with extra plumbing – a sanctuary in which to hide now and again when you need to cry in private (Rex)

One of the weirdly depressing stories in a week stuffed with weirdly depressing stories was the plans for “anti-sex loos“ (that would also deter rough sleeping) in the Welsh seaside town of Porthcawl.

According to the original BBC story, £170,000 was to be spent installing a public convenience, which, thanks to “weight” and “violent movement” sensors would trigger an alarm, water jets and automatic door-opening should any untoward shenanigans be suspected. It sounded like a recipe for clumsy fat man humiliation to me. What about those who have to go into cubicles two at a time in order to help those less able to help themselves? It’s very Big Brother.

Thankfully, the council saw sense after the backlash, later saying the planning application was “submitted in error”. Anyway, I’m sure Porthcawl could spend its money elsewhere, maybe on something that didn’t deter rough sleepers thanks to its state of the art alarm, lighting and heating cut-off features? Perhaps they could simply splash out some really nice friendly loos that got regularly cleaned and sported a bunch of fresh flowers on the windowsill?