Overview

The Largs changing places, toilet was put in place, through a group of local people campaigning for more accessible facilities to be available in this seaside town for people with different disabilities. They campaigned for the toilet that is accessible to everyone.

Transport & Parking

I Usually arrive by car. The nearest car park is the seafront car Park. You have to pay to use the seafront car park even if you have a blue badge. To park in seafront car Park for the day is £10 it's a slightly lesser rate depending on how long you stay for. You can find out more information on this on the North Ayrshire Council website. The nearest train station is Largs train station. There are trains come down to Largs from Glasgow, every hour. It's about a 10 to 15 minute walk or wheel to get down to the prom from the train station.

Access

Disabled access onto the prom at Largs has improved over the years with the introduction of more dropped Kerbs, there are still improvements that could be made to the texture of the pavements which can at times be very bumpy which isn't ideal when you when you need the toilet. Within the town centre, there are tactile pavement edges showing where the droped kerbs are. This is particularly helpful for anyone who has a visual impairment.

Toilets

The toilet itself is good it has a hoist, a privacy screen, and an adult changing bed. The only few criticisms that I would make is that there is only one handrail on one side of the toilet which falls down. Ideally, I think it should have to fold Down handrails to assist people to transfer more independently where possible. Also, the toilet is quite far into the right-hand corner of the room, which means it doesn't give much space to transfer from either side. The other thing that I would say that is really disappointing is that the toilet has been quite severely abused by people who obviously have a radar key, but perhaps shouldn't have one. The last Time I went in the toilet smelt strongly of urine and the floor was very dirty. This is not a pleasant experience for anyone. The other criticism that I have of the accessibility of the toilet is that there is a very small turning circle to get up the ramp to turn into the toilet. On the other side of the ramped entrance are steps going down onto the prom. Nondisabled members of the public, quite often use this ramp as a quick way of walking down onto the prom down the steps. I would say to any wheelchair user, please be careful and be aware of the proximity of the steps. It really is dangerous, and I would hate for anyone to fall down the the steps. I have mentioned my concerns to the council on several occasions but nothing has been done. There already has been a debate over the accessibility of this area from a non-disabled member of the public, who asked the council to take the safety far away from the steps so that he wouldn't have to walk around a longer route to use the standard male toilet

Staff

This toilet is understaffed. There is a notice on the door with a number to phone to get a radar key from the council to use the toilet. As I said, before, a lot of people have read our keys for the wrong reasons, and this leads to abuse of facilities that disabled people really need.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

The only thing I would mention is please please please be careful when turning to go into the toilet but you don't fall down the steps. This is especially important for anyone with a visual impairment.