British Toilet Association: Archived News from the British Toilet Association 

Jan Hobbs – Cleanzine’s Editor supports BTA Campaign

Although I'm not a Radio Two listener, I am a fan of Chris Evans and I've been tuning into the station to hear him present the breakfast show since he took over Terry Wogan's slot last week. On learning that listeners could nominate the 'mystery guests' whom Chris interviews each day, my first thought (as an ex British Toilet Association Council member and - for an interesting day - a guest Loo of the Year Awards Judge) was that I should contact the BTA and LOTY's Mike Bone and see if he wanted to be a mystery guest. I then had one of those 'hair standing on end' moments when I heard Chris interviewing him not an hour later!

Well done Mike for getting some first class exposure for the cause so early on in Chris's reign at the Breakfast Show studios! And well done too for thinking on your feet and inviting Chris to be a Toilet Champion!

Chris said immediately that he'd be interested in getting involved and I gather from speaking to Mike's office since, that this wasn't a fob off but a genuine agreement, and that Chris has indeed signed up.

I'm delighted - and I hope Chris can really add some weight to the campaign to persuade the powers that be to stop closing down the nation's washrooms. We need more - not fewer - and they should be clean, functional and well stocked.

It's appalling, isn't it, that such a movement (pardon the pun!) should even need to exist though.

We pay so much for our local services yet many councils have so little respect for us - the people they are meant to serve - that they are closing washrooms in their thousands, effectively imprisoning those who don't have the strongest constitutions, in their homes.

I travel about a lot for work and am angered at how much waste I see when essential services are ignored through lack of funding. Who gives a damn whether your street signs have the council's logo on them, or whether your local town centre has a piece of abstract art or your park a sculpture by some whiz kid designer, if you can't find a loo when you need one?

Article reproduced from Cleanzine Issue Number 400. 210110 www.thecleanzine.com