Vandals caused chaos and confusion at a public toilet by sticking “unisex” signs to doors during a spree of destruction.
The “inconsiderate” prank, which caused embarrassment for those entering the wrong lavatories, came during a day of anti-social behaviour at the busy toilets near Stonehaven beach yesterday.
Staff from the Aunty Betty’s ice cream parlour and The Bay fish and chip shop maintain the amenity voluntarily and have now been forced to close the premises until at least next week after the “brazen” vandals left it unusable.
Manager at Aunty Betty’s, Nicci Forbes, said that the perpetrators struck twice yesterday – returning to cause more trouble after workers had cleaned up following the first incident.
She said: “We opened the toilets at 8am and, some time between then and 10am, someone had gone in and made a mess.
“Someone had put unisex toilet stickers over the original ladies and gents signs.
“This caused some confusion, I found a man inside the ladies toilet and he was very apologetic and embarrassed.”
Ms Forbes added: “All the toilet roll holders were smashed off the walls, and they had bent the metal locks for the toilets all the way back so the stalls couldn’t shut properly.
“They had clogged the toilets by stuffing toilet roll down them, and there were sanitary towels ripped open and thrown everywhere.
“We cleaned it all up, but then we came back at about 2pm and found the exact same thing had happened again.
“Whoever it was, they were brazen since it was very busy throughout the day and anyone on the beach could have seen them.”
Mrs Forbes said the toilets cost about£15,000 a year for the two local firms to maintain.
She said: “I didn’t want them coming back for a third time and for the staff to have to deal with it, so we decided to close them.
“Which is a shame, since people need them. The closest one now is at the swimming pool.
“It’s really reckless and inconsiderate, especially since the toilets are much-used during the weekends and our volunteers do such a good job at keeping them clean.
“It’s sad that a small minority has ruined it for everyone else during the weekend.”
The sign affixed to the bright pink door of the building says its operators were left with “no other choice but to close the toilets” due to the “continued vandalism”.
A police spokeswoman said: “Officers will be looking into the incident.”