Official News page 9

REAL LIFE NEWS: TXT ME A TOILET

by Hazed

Kudos to London's Westminster Council and their new SatLav technology, which will help you if you're caught short in the borough. They have launched a text service to help people find the nearest toilet. You simply text the word "toilet" to 80097 and the mobile phone technology will figure out where you are and text you back with details of the nearest loo.

The system was invented by a student, who had the idea while writing her Masters disseration called Public Toilets: a Woman's Place. Gail Knight said, "When I am out with friends we are always ducking into department stores to use their loos but we feel a bit bad about it. I started remembering where Westminster's services were and always found them perfectly adequate... I thought a text service would be really useful for people on the move."

The service costs users 25p and covers 40 council-run and leased toilets as well as other public conveniences operated by the Greater London Authority and London Underground. In addition, a number of the big department stores in Oxford Street, the main shopping thoroughfare, are listing their toilet facilities through the scheme - presumably in the hope that if you nip inside to use the facilities, you will then be favorably disposed to buy something.

It's a great scheme. Well done, Westminster!

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