IF you've got to go, you've got to go unless you are a man and get caught short in Abbotts Park, Leyton.

That is the claim being made by Mohammed Shafiq, who tried in vain to use the public toilets in the park.

Mr Shafiq, a member of the Forest Liberal Democrat Focus Team, lives in Canterbury Road, and said he has received a number of complaints from people who haven't been able to use the toilets because they are continually locked shut when the park is open.

Mr Shafiq decided to investigate the claims himself, and was horrified by what he found.

"I discovered a man actually urinating in the toilet doorway. The man had come to use the toilets, but on finding them closed, he found himself in an embarrassing position," he said.

Mr Shafiq said he felt himself lucky not be in the same in-convenient predicament as that of the man who needed to go.

But, in order to back up his claims, Mr Shafiq returned to the Abbotts Park toilets with a camera.

"I had myself photographed in this insalubrious circumstance," he said.

Mr Shafiq added. "I will not describe to you what I was trying to avoid standing on."

A Waltham Forest Council spokesman said although the toilets are usually open when the borough parks are open, shortages of staff and repair work sometimes make it necessary to close them

The spokesman said: "When Abbotts Park, is open the public toilet is also usually open.

"Sometimes the toilet is closed during the park's opening hours because of staff shortages or because repairs need to be done. "

There are a total of nine parks in the borough including Coronation Gardens, Leyton, Ridgeway Park, Chingford, Langthorne Park, Leytonstone, St James Street Park, Walthamstow, and Lloyd Park, Walthamstow.

The spokesman said: "The police have advised the council to close the toilets when they are unattended."

April 3, 2002 18:00