It’s probably been a couple of years since I first came across the pop-up urinal in the centre of Taunton. We had taken the staff out for a company night out and came face to face with a Urilift at the bottom of the High Street. I had no idea what it was, in fact at first I thought it was some sort of water fountain. It was only when I got my face closer I realised it was a urinal – wide open for everyone to see. Then, a few days later, I was stood at the same spot on the High Street and the thing had vanished. I then saw the circular shape on the paving and it dawned on me that it was a urinal that pops up out of the ground at night.

I was driving back from Minehead on Saturday night and cut across the town, and saw the urinal again, this time being used by a couple of drunk chaps, whilst a whole load of young ladies (wearing virtually nothing) walked nonchalantly by. I’m in my early thirties and I’m not a complete prude, but it astonishes me just how much times have changed since I frequented the town centre on a Saturday night, and this urinal just sums it all up.

We are a nation in moral decay. Where is the sense of decency? Why do we need to install open urinals in busy High Streets? I understand the council is trying to stop drunk revellers from slipping into a dark alley to do their business, which the following day smells awful for the shoppers, but by placing a urinal in a wide open space, they are simply condoning or even encouraging this sort of behaviour.

I wonder how effective the pop-up urinal is anyway. It seems to cater only for men, and yet there are equal numbers of drunk female louts staggering about the streets of Taunton. Are we expected to believe that the female of the species is never caught short during a night on the razz? Are we also expected to believe that chaps would prefer standing in the middle of the High Street to a secluded dark alley?

What bothers me most is that during the summer the urinal pops up during the daylight. Worse still, someone could be using it in the daylight while I drive past with my children. It is, after all, positioned right smack bang in the middle of Taunton town centre.