IF the past couple of years has taught us anything, it’s the importance of cleanliness and hygiene.
The bathroom is one of the most important rooms of the house to keep clean and tidy, with lots of bacteria living in our toilets and sinks.
As well as keeping our own loos germ-free, we also expect the toilets where we spend a penny out in public to be kept clean.
But it turns out that’s not always the case.
Bathroom experts AQVA made Freedom of Information requests to all 108 councils across the UK to find out how many complaints had been made about the state of public lavs.
And Edinburgh was the city in Scotland with the most gripes about grimy bogs.
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In total five people lodged individual complaints with the council about dirty loos.
Topping the culprit rundown in the UK was Blackpool where a towering 39 grievances were made, with Bristol and Swansea taking second and third spot on the filthy facilities list.
But it’s not all bad news for folk caught short in public – two cities in Scotland received no complaints about whiffy WCs.
Dundee and Glasgow city councils came up smelling of roses, with a clean record.
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According to AQVA, more than 77,000 distinct types of bacteria and viruses can be found in public toilet facilities. While not every one is going to be harmful to the health, there is still a level of risk, particularly when lavs are not cleaned regularly or thoroughly.
A spokesman said: “When using the toilet, our hands come into contact with toilet flushes, taps, door handles, and plenty of other areas.
“The danger presents itself when we then touch our own face or take the hand of someone else before we have been able to thoroughly wash our hands.
“While we can’t necessarily control the cleanliness of the public toilets we may use, we can make sure to wash our hands thoroughly with soap and carry our own hand sanitizer to use whenever necessary.”
