A FAULT with the locks on disabled toilets on Great Yarmouth seafront over the weekend forced people to use other toilets which were difficult to access.

A FAULT with the locks on disabled toilets on Great Yarmouth seafront over the weekend forced people to use other toilets which were difficult to access.

Wheelchair-bound Dawn Needs, from Milton Keynes, was among those who had tried to use disabled toilets near Britannia Pier using a special RADAR key, which enables disabled people to open 7,000 locked disabled toilets across the country.

But she found she could not get the door open and when she tried to open two other disabled toilets further along the seafront, she found these would not open either.

The 61-year-old was visiting the town for a three-day stay with husband Kenneth, 65, but had to use female toilets at the Marina Centre where the cubicle was not big enough to accommodate her wheelchair - forcing her to crawl on hands and knees.

The couple, who were staying in Hopton, needed to use the toilets on Saturday, a day into their stay in Yarmouth.

Graham Plant, cabinet member for regeneration and tourism at the borough council, said staff from Yarmouth Tourist Information Office had visited the toilets on Tuesday and found that the locks on the ladies toilets were completely seized up while the men's only responded “when it felt like it.”

He said the toilets would be fixed as soon as possible.

The disabled toilets are closed during the winter months, except for people with RADAR keys, but open during the main tourist season between April and October.