If you’re caught short in the London Borough of Westminster – which includes some of the English capital’s most popular shopping and tourist venues – help is, quite literally, at hand. Now all you have to do is use your mobile phone to text “toilet” to 80097 and you’ll receive a message back giving the location of the nearest public facility. It’s all come about through a Westminster City Council innovation competition, and is the brainchild of student Gail Knight – who, incidentally, doesn’t live in Westminster, but in the suburb of Clapham. However, you’ll pay to find the loo. Each text costs 50 cents, with the council adding another 18 cents in subsidies. Westminster cabinet member for street environment councillor Alan Bradley told The Guardian, "From today onwards nobody should ever get caught short again, and we understand how important that is, be it for a young mum with children in tow, older people or friends on a shopping trip or night out."
