Credit card toilets at Queen’s Market cause a stir

New toilets in Queen’s Market have continued to confuse everyone who wants to use them. Recently FoQM found the toilets were not working and in speaking with a staff member from the Market Inspectors Office it wasn’t going to be easy to sort out.

The locking mechanism for the toilet is operated by a credit (or debit) card and if damaged it appears all of the mechanisms are damaged at once, so all of the toilets remain closed until the outsourced specialist contractor is called out to fix the issue.

“A good lock from the local carpenters should have done the trick, but do they listen? We are probably the only work place where not only do we have no access to a toilet when nature calls, but then have to pay for the privilege” said one long time trader at Queen’s Market.

… to add, any costs of repairing the new toilets will be taken out of the Markets budget too.

Thankfully, due to the camaraderie and good nature of the traders in Green Street and Queen’s Market, the traders get assistance from fellow business owners when they have to use a toilet.

The new credit card toilets at Queen’s Market are said to have been co-created using Newham Council’s Co-create platform with money coming from the Good Growth fund.

_{Photo gallery above: CLOSED DOOR HOSPITALITY. The new credit card toilets at Queen’s Market can close at any time without warning, and it appears no way of opening without calling the specialist contractor to get it fixed.}

The digital exclusion of local people from accessing public services is nothing new. For years FoQM and the market traders association have asked for free parking at Queen’s Market that use to happen before, even for the first 30 minutes, but instead visitors are forced to pay through a mobile app only, with no alternative payment options given. For many visitors to the market they are not well versed in the digital phones, gadgets and apps and describe it as a cumbersome process for a small payment. The fussy system is also off-putting for shoppers and affected trade. The traders continue to ask for a cheaper parking rate and a coin-based system that does not discriminate against Newham’s diverse communities.