She gets up every day of the week at 3.30am to be faced with scenes of destruction, vandalism and serious mess in Southampton’s loos.
And she knows exactly who she’s blaming for the city’s facilities closing down – you, the public.
Jacqueline Chapman-James, who’s known as Ollie, has been cleaning the public loos in the city every morning for the past two years.
She says the reason some have closed is that the people who used them had no respect for the facilities.
She said: “People go in there and they just don’t give a monkey’s.
“I don’t understand why if people drop things they don’t pick them up.
People leave used nappies on top of the bin and all sorts.
“Girls who’ve been shopping try clothes on in the toilets and leave coat hangers and rubbish everywhere in there.
“They just chuck it by the side of the toilets.
“Vandals break the loo roll holders open and nick the toilet rolls or block the loos with them.
“As soon as new ones are put in, they get broken again.
“And we’re not talking about the ones you get in a pound shop – these are expensive chrome holders – it’s very costly to keep replacing them.
“It costs the council and therefore it costs the taxpayers. It’s the reason some of the toilets have closed down.”
Bargate and Kingsland public toilets have already closed since the City Council announced budget cuts in February, and Woolston toilets have also been earmarked for closure.
The council says it will save them £60,000 in this financial year and £85,000 for the next two years.
Miss Chapman-James, 53, from Netley Abbey, works seven days a week, starting at 4.30am to clean the toilets and visiting them again at night to lock them up.
She’s had her hours reduced since the cuts came into effect, but still cleans the loos at Mayflower Park, Hoglands Park, Westwood Road in Portswood, Weston Parade, Bitterne Precinct, Riverside Park, Mayfield Park and Woolston.
In the course of doing her job, she says she’s seen some horrific sights.
She said: “When I was cleaning the toilets one day, I heard a mighty big scream and I went running out to see a young woman with a little boy of about three or four, and he had a syringe in his hand that he’d picked up from the floor.
“This is the kind of thing I have got to face every morning.
“At the end of the day I don’t mind cleaning and I shouldn’t have to change my job if I enjoy it.
“But I am fed up of cleaning graffiti off the walls, replacing and reporting broken loo roll holders, and seats due to vandalism and picking up syringes full of heroin.
“So be fair – don’t blame the Southampton City Council on closing the loos down, blame the public.”
Council leader Royston Smith admitted some members of the public were culpable for the cost of running the toilets.
He said: “Many public toilets are out of date and subject to vandalism and anti-social behaviour. This is costly for the taxpayer.
“We have decided to close two public toilets which have other publicly accessible toilets near-by.
“We are also working with businesses in Woolston to see if other toilets can be made available for public use before the toilet there is closed.”
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