Westminster City Council has launched a campaign to fight the menace of public urination after complaints from residents. Image courtesy: Westminster.gov.uk
If you thought urinating in public was an Indian problem you are mistaken. The United Kingdom too faces a similar menace. Now the Westminster City Council in London has come up with a novel way to deal with those relieving themselves in public and it involves paint.
No, the authorities are not writing quirky messages on walls as we see in India. But they are painting them with a “splash back” substance which will leave offenders soaked in their own urine. Wonder what that is.
The paint that pees back
To deter drunk revellers from urinating in public, the council is painting the streets of Soho, a neighbourhood in the City of Westminster with pubs, dining and shopping centres, with special paint. It reportedly splashes back on the person who urinates on it, according to a report in the BBC.
The paint is made of a water-repellent layer, so urine or any other liquid bounces back on the perpetrators. Walls and streets of five locations including Westminster and central London will get a coat of the “splash back” paint.
A similar paint was used in the red light district of Hamburg in Germany in 2016. According to a report in Forbes, it comprises two layers of a superhydrophobic substance called Ultra-Ever Dry, which creates surface chemistry and texture with patterns of geometric shapes that have “peaks” or “high points”. These high points repel water, some oils, wet concrete and other liquids.
Apart from the paint, posters discouraging people from relieving themselves in public places and reminding them that it is a crime will be put up along with QR codes which will help them find nearby toilets. Offenders will be penalised; they can be fined up to ?150 (Rs 15,070) if caught by council inspectors.
The initiative was started after Westminster City Council spent ?950,000 (Rs 96.11 lakh) annually to clean up after a rise in incidents of public urination since the COVID-19-induced lockdown ended. It is expected to shell out another ?20,000 (Rs 20 lakh) to keep toilets in Soho clean, especially from Thursday to Sunday when there is an increase in the number of visitors.
‘Pee-back time’
Aicha Less, deputy leader of Westminster City Council, told MyLondon, “Residents and businesses are fed up. It’s finally pee-back time and we’re taking action to stop people using alleyways or doorways as a toilet. The ingenious paint is one of a number of steps we are taking to discourage people from relieving themselves in public or on private property.”
In Soho, hundreds of drunk people meet at pubs, according to Soho Society chairman Tim Lord. “It’s extraordinary we don’t have more public toilets… residents just get people urinating on their doors. It’s awful.”
The council is stepping up enforcement as people throng Soho and the West End ahead of Christmas. Saying that a hefty fine is “the last thing people want before holidays”, Lord urged people to relieve themselves before they leave venues and use public toilets.
Authorities will spend ?20,000 (Rs 20 lakh) to keep toilets in Soho clean, especially from Thursday to Sunday when there is an increase in the number of visitors. Representational picture/AFP
Patrick Lilley, councillor of West End, said that it was an “absolute disgrace” that Soho residents have to tolerate tourists using the neighbourhood as their personal toilet. “If someone did their business outside your front door, I’m sure you’d feel the same. The anti-pee paint, combined with the community protection notices should teach those perpetrators a lesson,” he told Indy100.
He said that Westminster had several public toilets which are “open late and free of charge that visitors can use instead of relieving themselves in the street”.
‘Wading through wee’
Residents of Soho are appalled at the behaviour of tourists. One of them told the council, “I feel personally violated, having to walk past men peeing in the street, particularly at night it does not feel safe.”
“Wading through streams of wee to get to my front door is not pleasant; no one can argue that this is acceptable wherever you live and people have a responsibility to use the facilities in the bar or club before they leave.”
According to a report in MyLondon, a Soho trader used to clean up human faeces and used condoms twice every day, as people used his market stall like a loo.
Last year, Robin Smith, who runs a dairy in the area, had to clean the street near his stall every day as it was covered in human excrement. “Every morning you have to stand in a puddle of p***. The stench is all around you… It’s unfortunate to the extreme. It’s an al fresco loo,” he complained.
With inputs from agencies
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