After reports of men being fined for public urination, four people explain how cuts to facilities affect their lives and wider society
Urinating in public made the headlines this week with the news that at least two men have recently been fined for doing so in the Hertfordshire countryside. Dacorum council and many others class the act as a littering offence.
A Royal Society for Public Health survey in 2019 found that three in four people in the UK reported a shortage of toilets in their area. A decline in the maintenance of public facilities over the years has left many, including older and disabled people and those with young children, having to plan carefully or being forced to rely on private businesses. It has also significantly affected gig economy workers and people sleeping rough.
