Disabled Toilet Facilties

[Ric.ror]

I went to my local library last week and asked to use the loo. As I had a four year old and a one year old I thought I might have been allowed to use the disabled toilet - I had to go upstairs and I'm not good with stairs at the best of time due to a balance problem.
They do not have a disabled toilet - I find that incredible - particularly as there is PLENTY of space on the ground floor for one.
I would like to take this further - any suggestions would be appreciated

[woofgang]

I have got a feeling that libraries do not have to make any provision at all for loos for public use unless there is also has a cafe.

[janbee]

I didn;t realise they were obliged to provide any toilet facilities. !Check with your local council, they are responsible for the libraries.

[Gavmacp]

Our library in town has 3 disabled toilets for different transfers which I was very impressed by. Why should someone with a disability have to sit in their own waste if they want to go into town for a prolonged period of time.

[hc4361]

None of the libraries within my borough council provide toilets, I really wish they would

[Maydup]

Libraries are run by the county council, look yours up online and contact the relevant dept. ask them very specifically why ther is no accessible toilet at teh library and what plans they have for installing one.

[EDDIE51]

Only places that sell food to be eaten on the premises have to provide toilets
If a library provides toilets it is their own decision they have no obligation to.
I have never seen or used a library that provides toilets.

[hc4361]

With councils being as strapped for cash as they are, I can see the toilets Ric.ror closing to the public if the library is challenged on grounds of discrimination. Far cheaper to close them than to open a disabled toilet.

[jennyjoan]

hc - i echo your point - with the new technology etc - libraries are on the verge of closing down

[tonyav]

Doesn't look good for libraries.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/12/library-campaigners-1000-closures-2016

[Ric.ror]

its an absolute disgrace if you ask me
Toilet facilities - and access to them - should be a basic in any public building

[hc4361]

It's the cost of maintaining the toilets that is the problem, as well as the minority of the public that use public toilets for drug dealing and taking; leave the toilet in a disgraceful state; steal the toilet rolls; vandalise the loos.

Perhaps if people were more willing to pay for the use of the toilet the situation would improve.

[Georgiesmum]

The two libraries in my area dont have toilets. I didnt realise any of them did.

[hc4361]

I'm interested to know why you believe you have a right to use a disabled toilet if you have children with you, Ric.ror.

Many disabled toilets need a Radar NKS key that should only be issued to those entitled to one due to the nature of their disability.

[EDDIE51]

Look at my answer, the ONLY places that are compelled to provide customer toilets are places that sell food / drink for consumption on the premises. Not even a public building like a town hall is COMPELLED to provide public toilets unless they serve food.

[gina32]

Eddie51 that isn't actually true, take a look at Greggs!

[hc4361]

Does Greggs have seating?

[woofgang]

hc, the OP was saying that she has a balance issue with using stairs. I would say that was enough of a reason to want to use an accessible toilet.

[Buenchico]

Just to clarify the law with regard to premises serving food:

There is NO statutory requirement for such premises to provide toilet facilities for their customers. (There are loads of small cafés around London's West End that have no toilets for their customers. Cambridge is much the same). However some local authorities now make it a condition for planning consent, when a new café is proposed, that customer toilets must be provided. Since that can't be retrospective though, that still leaves thousands of cafés operating perfectly lawfully without customer toilets.

Much of the misinformation about the (alleged) requirement for cafés to provide customer toilets stems from a storyline in Coronation Street, several decades ago, where a local businessman tried to stop The Cabin from selling refreshments because they hadn't got customer toilets. Unfortunately the scriptwriter had got his facts wrong but ever since then people have believed that it's a legal requirement!

Unless it's included as a planning requirement, nobody is ever required to provide public/customer toilets. Local authorities aren't required to provide toilets (which is why provision varies so widely across different areas) and even pubs aren't. (There used to be a pub, listed in the Good Pubs Guide, where customers who needed the loo had to walk to the other end of the street and use the council-owned ones).

However, where toilets are provided as a facility for customers (as in nearly all pubs) the law requires that disabled customers shouldn't be discriminated against (unless it's not 'reasonably possible' to provide facilities for them due, for example, to the layout of a historic building).

[mikey4444]

Am I missing something here ? How can it be designated as a "disabled" toilet, if its only accessible via a flight of stairs ? Are you sure that there wasn't a lift available ?

Or are you saying perhaps, that the only toilet available, to anyone, is up a flight of stairs ?

Sorry...I am a bit confused !

My local Library in the village ( still open by the way ! ) has a toilet, accessible for anyone to use. I have asked to use it, even on times when I am not using the Library facilities and there has never been a problem.

[EDDIE51]

I have never seen a Greggs that has 'eat in' tables, 100% takeaway.
As Beunchico points out, there are even exemptions for small 'eateries' .