Good news? Toilet charges are being flushed away

Looking for loose change when the need arises is a nuisance, and restricted entry to station toilets difficult with a suitcase in tow. The lose change bit, requires an exact coin as these machines don’t give change or accept other coins. No 20p coin, no pee. Regarding cleaning, this should ALWAYS be a part of the station service and never compromised. Travellers pay enough for their tickets, this is part of the railway service they should expect for their fare.

I do believe that all toilets should be free and clean in what is supposed to be a civilised society.

I agree with Hannah on the need for drinking water fountains to help combat the waste of plastic.

I must say that this will be a great relief, but it’s worth bearing in mind that Network Rail operates only the 18 busiest stations in England, Scotland and Wales –

Birmingham New Street
Bristol Temple Meads
Edinburgh Waverley
Glasgow Central
Leeds
Liverpool Lime Street
London Bridge
London Cannon Street
London Charing Cross
London Euston
London Kings Cross
London Liverpool Street
London Paddington
London St Pancras International
London Victoria
London Waterloo
Manchester Piccadilly
Reading.

London St Pancras International is owned by London & Continental Railways but operated by Network Rail and it has had free toilets [and very long queues] for some years.

Major stations in other cities are absent from this list as they are operated by the primary train operating company serving the station and usually have free access to the toilets, although they might be on the railway side of the barrier line meaning they are only accessible to ticket-holders. Most train operators have recognised that providing free toilets at their stations is a necessary part of their customer service standards and generally their provision is adequate. My main criticism is over the sufficiency of urinals and cubicles which is often not enough, especially when a full train arrives. Most termini had commodious toilets when they were built in Victorian times but over the years those spaces have been reduced and used for other purposes so cramped facilities and queues are now commonplace.

Many stations down the line no longer have passenger toilets and most commuter trains around London on ‘metro’ services do not have on-board facilities. Even where trains do have toilets they are not always satisfactory or are out of use. So to expect people to pay to use a toilet on arriving at a terminus has always struck me as rather mean. Network Rail collected £4.8 million from people using its station toilets in the last financial year.

Like Hannah, my first reaction on reading this was that cleaning and maintenance standards would be reduced, and I hope this does not happen. Apart from anything else, the change will lead to higher use [and misuse] levels. I am most familiar with the toilets at London Liverpool Street which are usually in good condition, although the entry turnstiles have occasionally been out of order and entry has been free of charge. It does have a change-giving machine which was useful when, unknown to me in advance, the charge had been increased from 20p to 30p. This charge meant that many intending toilet users would divert to the adjacent public house to use their facilities.

Not only railway stations but BUS stations too ,the charge at many bus stations is now 30 p local councils build and run most bus stations so pressure must be put on them to provide toilet facilities for free They believe people WILL have to use them so why not make them pay just as the rail provider did On some bus stations they are still free to use

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When I visited Italy I found that you could go into any restaurant or café and use the toilet in there Just go in use the toilet and leave no need to be a customer There seemed to be very few public toilets