Sir – A shame on you Oxford since, in my experience, even the Third World and post-communist Eastern Europe have nothing comparable to offer. Changing coaches at Gloucester Green bus station last week, my wife and I needed to use a toilet.

It was only 7pm and yet the station toilets were closed for cleaning. Why does the whole facility need to be closed at the same time? A sign directed passengers to an ‘emergency toilet’. The expression was well chosen for its condition was indescribable and it had no functioning lock on the door, so its hapless user was exposed to all the world of Oxford.

I know that the public have much to answer for and doubtless for some, at times of economic difficulty, public toilets are a luxury the country can ill-afford.

However, this could well be the first glimpse that foreign visitors get of one of the world’s premier university cities.

By comparison, Cambridge bus station beats Oxford by several lengths in the quality and quantity of its public loos.

Prof Frederick Toates, Milton Keynes