By Cara Sulieman
HIGHLANDERS are spending a penny in the UK’s best public toilets.
Highland Council is flushed with success after winning the UK Trophy for the best public toilets in the Loo of the Year Awards 2008.
The council sent all other competition down the pan when they scooped the award at a ceremony in Birmingham.
An undercover inspector from the awards visited each of the nominated toilets throughout the year and was looking at a range of criteria.
The signage, décor, maintenance, cleanliness, fixtures and fittings and overall management and customer care were all carefully judged by the inspector.
Such thorough criteria means that visitors to some of the most remote toilets in Britain can be assured that it will not only be safe to go, but pleasant as well.
Councillor Brian Murphy went to Birmigham to collect the award on behalf of the council.
He said: “This year, as well as becoming national category winners, we have improved the overall rating of all our toilets and so everyone involved should feel extremely proud.”
There were other accolades for the toilets of Scotland with a win by Asda in Bearsden for Age Friendly toilet of the year.
The Burbank Centre in Hamilton makes a visit to the toilet a family affair and walked away with the Family Friendly award.
East Lothian Council also did well in the toilet roll of honour, gathering a wide range of loo awards – so much so that a Standard of Excellence was given to the council.
The toilet cleaners of East Lothian are the best in Scotland after winning the In-House Cleaning Team Award for their effort across all facilities in the council area.
And St Gabriel’s Nursery in Prestonpans, where children can spend a penny in style, won Scottish nursery loo of the year.
Marion Fairgrieve has worked as a cleaner in the nursery for nearly 30 years and is proud of their recent success.
She said: “We just like to try and keep a good standard. We know we have had awards in the past and we want to keep that going. We get comments from staff and parents all the time. You go in night after night and you are doing the same thing all the time so when you get these comments it makes it all worth-while.”
