Lithuanians turn public toilets into traps for vandals

Anyone who happens to visit a public toilet in Klaipeda, Lithuania, should be careful not to spend longer than five minutes inside – after that time limit the doors will automatically be blocked. This is the city authorities’ idea for fighting vandalism.

Klaipeda, a small and picturesque city on the Baltic Sea, has spent $365,000 to install automatic public lavatories. The city authorities are very unhappy that frequently neither tourists nor locals can use them, as young vandals lock themselves in to break the coin hopper and do other evil deeds, Lietuvos Rytas newspaper writes.

But now the Mayor’s Office have found a way to protect their recent input into the city’s image.

Automatic blocking systems will be installed on the toilets’ doors. The system will wait exactly five minutes after the client goes in, and if he or she does not leave after the time runs out, the doors will be blocked.

The only way to get out after that is to call a specialist who will unlock the doors and examine the toilet for damage before letting the unfortunate visitor out.

This is far crueler than, for instance, the Paris public lavatories security system, which automatically opens the doors fifteen minutes after the customer steps in, regardless of his or her intentions. But it goes without saying that a vandal can do less harm in five minutes than in fifteen.