Signs Warn Desperate Motorists Not To Urinate Against Walls At Service Stations

Police have been forced to put up signs at a motorway service station to stop desperate drivers going to the toilet against the walls and bushes.

The graphic posters show drawings of people urinating and defecating with a giant red line put through it so that people from across the world will understand.

Northamptonshire Police took the decision to put up the posters at the northbound service area at Watford Gap in Daventry after they were alerted to people using bushes at a picnic spot as a makeshift loo.

Around 20 of the signs have been put up and a police spokesman said that they were meant to “encourage” people to use the toilets inside the service station.

He said: “We work closely with the management at Watford Gap and it came to our attention that bushes by a picnic area and a lorry park at the service station were regularly being used by people as a toilet.

"To tackle the problem, we created a poster which aims to encourage people to use the facilities inside the service station building.

"As people from across the world use the service station, we designed the signs to be as easy to understand as possible.”

Chief Inspector Tom Thompson, who is leading the crackdown, said it was "perverse” that people would use the hedgerows when the toilets inside the service station were completely free to use.

He added that there had been a growing problem with the smell around the hedgerows, saying there had been “more and more complaints from people trying to picnic over the summer months”.

A spokesman for Roadchef, the company which runs the Watford Gap services, said: “Following a very small number of incidents, the police have introduced a sign in the car park… requesting that motorists use our newly-upgraded toilets inside the building, rather than foliage in the car park.

"We do not condone people using our site inappropriately in any way, and monitor car parks at all of our sites to ensure every customer receives a good experience when using our facilities.”

Pics: Rex