EMBARRASSED Oxfordshire residents blush to think of the sight that greets visitors should they dare to use a public toilet in the city.

Any tourist taking a break from the beauties of the Ashmolean or the Martyrs' Memorial to spend a penny may well regret it.

Indignant Pat Taylor, of Brookside Estate, Chalgrove, was horrified when she visited the public toilets at Gloucester Green in Oxford.

She was so outraged she wrote to the Oxford Mail complaining about the state of them.

She said: "My daughter and I went to Gloucester Green in Oxford to catch the Oxford Tube to London and, before boarding the coach, we visited the ladies' toilets."

She added: "We were absolutely disgusted. The whole place was littered, including the washbasins.

"The floors were wet, some toilets had not been flushed and were bunged up, and there wasn't a single cubicle fit to be used.

"Isn't it a shame that this may be the first vision of Oxford for many visitors?"

And Mrs Taylor was soon joined in her protests by Erica Young-Hamilton, of Magdalen Road, Oxford.

Ms Young-Hamilton said: "In view of the thousands of visitors who have to use them each year, the public toilets in Oxford are a disgrace, both in their condition and the lack of them. "As visitors generate so much revenue for the city, isn't it only right that they should expect decent and plentiful washroom facilities during their stay?"

Cleanliness of public toilets is the responsibility of Oxford City Council's contractors City Works.

Neil Castle, of the city council's environmental services department, admitted the city's loos were not as good as they could be. He said: "In general the toilets in Oxford are far less than we would like them to be, less in terms of standards and in number, particularly for ladies.

"We are well aware of the shortfall of suitable facilities for ladies. It's a financial problem. There is far more demand and expectation from the public than there is money to meet it."

He agreed that the sight which greeted visitors to Oxford's loos was not particularly savoury.

He said: "They are cleaned to a basic level and are generally serviceable. They are not pleasant places. I wouldn't take my mother there unless she was desperate."

Alex Hollingsworth, chairman of the highways and traffic committee, said a long-term refurbishment of the city's toilets started three years ago. He said: "It's a large amount of money and the council's resources are not so large." Leader of the council Stan Taylor said a review of the toilets three years ago had found that £1m was needed to bring them up to standard. He said there was a problem with vandalism as well as the need for refurbishment.

Mr Taylor added that foreign visitors to the city were occasionally found sleeping in the toilets overnight.

Oxford City Council spokeswoman Anne Fessi, said they were cleaned at least four times a day, six days a week.

City Works director Maurice Goodin said: "Since taking over the contract we have changed our approach to the upkeep of public toilets and have begun an extensive redecoration programme."

He added: "We are striving to improve the service, but the only way to guarantee clean toilets at night is to close them outside of normal working hours, or to offer a round-the-clock cleaning service, which would be very costly."

A total of £54,500 has been allocated to spend on toilets in St Bernard's Road, Castle Street and St Giles's men's toilets.

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