THE HEAD of a national watchdog group has panned the toilets at Southampton's £295 million WestQuay Shopping Centre.

Since its opening in September the glittering shopping centre that boasts some of the most up-to-date technology available has come in for criticism.

First, WestQuay's car parking charges made drivers see red and now the director of the British Toilet Association, Richard Chisnell, has turned the spotlight on the toilets.

He complained WestQuay had:

Too few ladies toilets

Overflowing sanitary bins

Dirty nappies left on the floor

No hot water

Too few directional signs

Mr Chisnell, who is also director of the national Loo of the Year Awards, was in Southampton to address the city council's scrutiny committee on toilets.

He visited the council's public lavatories before going to WestQuay to check on their toilet provision.

"This is supposed to be Europe's biggest and best shopping centre but I am afraid the toilets have rather missed the mark," he said.

"The level of provision seems somewhat out of kilter - the ratio should be 2:1 female to male toilets and it does not appear that this is the case at WestQuay."

During his visit Mr Chisnell witnessed queues for the ladies toilet and the baby-changing facilities.

When he asked a member of staff why the water from the hot tap was running cold, he was told there was too much demand.

"There are lots of basic things that are wrong and I would like to meet WestQuay to suggest where improvements can be made," he said. A spokeswoman for WestQuay Shoping Centre said they welcomed Mr Chisnell's comments and looked forward to discussing the matter with him.

"Overall I can confirm that the number of toilets is planned against the space requirement and not visitor numbers, as these would fluctuate on an hourly basis.

"The number also conforms to our facilities maintenance strategy to allow maintenance staff to check them throughout the day," she said.

Mr Chisnell told the toilet scrutiny panel that Southampton's public loos could be transformed into 21st-century comfort stations complete with shops, cafs and tourist information if the council worked with the private sector.

Public toilets are currently being investigated by a city council scrutiny panel.

They called in Mr Chisnell to find out what facilities Southampton should be providing.

He told councillors:

Southampton currently sits in the 24th position out of all 46 unitary authorities in the country for its public toilet provision

The national average is one toilet per 7,000 residents but Southampton has only one public lavatory for 9,360 city dwellers

"Southampton has a long way to go with its current provision. A city of this size should have a number of flagship conveniences," he said.