BBC reporter spent six hours on nightclub disabled toilet floor

BBC News

26-02-2025

Spending six hours on the floor of a nightclub toilet wasn't how I imagined my evening out would go.It was early 2014 and I was just getting used to being in a wheelchair after an accident that caused a spinal injury.Instead of enjoying a slap-up meal at a charity event at a Cardiff club, I ended up on the floor of the accessible loo after falling out of my wheelchair.It wasn't until the music stopped that the bouncers heard me screaming and bashing the bins. My body was covered in bruises, but the outcome could have been much worse.
I struggled to sit back up in my chair after using the toilet and ended up stranded on the floor until three in the morning because the emergency pull-cord in the accessible toilet snapped - and failed to alert staff that I was in danger.At the time, I brushed it off. But now I realise how serious it could have been. Eleven years on and campaigners say not much has changed. I have spoken to other people with similar stories and one charity has called for businesses and councils to take "immediate steps" to improve access to accessible toilets.Charity Euan's guide, which provides disabled access information, found almost three quarters of 6,800 people surveyed said they had come across an accessible toilet they were unable to use, while two-thirds said loos were dirty and unhygienic. Working on this story has brought back a lot of traumatic memories about that night.But my bad experience could have been resolved quickly if the emergency pull cord had worked.The survey said some people found accessible toilets with faeces over walls and floors, Christmas decorations being stored in them, and another with an office set up, complete with a desk, chair and lamp.
Kieren Barlow said he was left exposed on the loo when a faulty handle failed to lock and someone walked in and left, leaving the door open. The 35-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, was unable to transfer quickly back into his wheelchair to close the door.The "awful" experience left the RSPCA branch manager from Connah's Quay, Flintshire, with toilet anxiety. "I've had times where the toilet seat slides to one side, and you make a mess of yourself," he told me."It creates fear. It makes me scared of going to a public toilet because you don't know what you're going to face."He said accessible toilets were rarely "cleaned like the non-disabled toilets are" and carries his own toilet bag with paper, sanitiser and underwear.
Steph Bailey-Scott has found accessible toilets used as storage rooms and said they were often too small. The 30-year-old from Cardiff has tiredness and pain in her legs and uses a wheelchair to get around after developing long Covid four years ago."I'm already tired, so to push a heavy door or find an alternative doesn't feel very fair," she said."It's very frustrating that other people can very easily go to the toilet when they want to without any issues."
It is something parents of disabled children said they struggle with too. Dominic Evans coaches a wheelchair rugby team near his home in Bridgend that his sons, Alexander, 15, and Lucas, 12, both play in. He said the accessible toilets he finds were often "stinking", with no toilet roll or adequate changing facilities, forcing him to change them on a wet floor. "It is awful, the indignity they have to go through if I have to try and change them in such barbaric conditions," said Dominic.
Euan's Guide said existing regulation like the Equality Act 2010 and building regulations had not solved the problem.The charity is calling on the public, businesses, policymakers and local authorities to take immediate steps to improve disabled access information.Haneul Lee from the charity said after 10 years of running surveys about accessible toilets, not much had improved.I shared my story with Haneul and asked if my situation was rare."We've definitely heard a lot of people just lying there waiting," Hanuel said."Some for five to six hours. We've had people with a broken leg because there was wet floor and they've ended up slipping."
The Welsh government said changes were made to building regulations in 2023 to increase the number of available accessible toilets in public buildings of a certain size. It added: "We are committed to supporting the rights of all disabled people in Wales and creating an inclusive and accessible society."The UK government has also been approached for comment.