I RECENTLY visited the public lavatories in the Pavilion Gardens.

Not only did they look as sordid, grubby and run-down as they always do these days but the cubicles were unusable and two showed signs of drug use.

Apart from one marked out of order, a second was filthy, another had blood spattered on the wall and a fourth (apart from being clogged and filthy) showed evidence of a small fire having been lit on its waste unit.

As I turned to leave, I watched young foreign students, who looked disgusted, hesitate and then go into the cubicles. There was risk of infection there, not least of hepatitis.

As I left, I saw a large group of street drinkers sitting on the nearby wall. I spoke to two security staff patrolling the packed Pavilion Gardens and asked them to alert someone to the state of the lavatories.

They told me the lavatories had “nothing to do with the gardens” and they and their company weren’t responsible for them.

I reminded them that these were the lavatories used by visitors to the gardens but they repeated it wasn’t their responsibility.

They did eventually agree to alert someone but also suggested the mess had “just happened” and was caused by the street drinkers. They stressed their responsibility was “up to the wall” which presumably was why the drinkers were sitting inches outside their jurisdiction. I gave up and phoned the council. They said they would alert “the company responsible”. I wanted to yell: “It’s the council’s responsibility.”. Privatisation of public services is a terrible thing.