Worthing public toilets: Concerns over CCTV camera addressed by council

Kevin Baker, 67, was walking his dog at Goring Gap at the weekend when he used the public toilets nearby and noticed a camera installed inside the building.

‘Shocked’ at this discovery, he contacted the Worthing Herald/Sussex World concerned that it was filming people at the urinal.

Mr Baker said: “I entered the men’s toilet and proceeded to do what men do. When finished I turned away to wash my hands and leave. It was at this point I noticed a camera on the wall looking down over the urinal.

“When I saw that, I was shocked. To me, it’s a complete invasion of privacy. Who is looking at these images? Who is in charge of these images? Are they being stored?

“You’ve got kids going in there, not just adults. I’m disgusted by the whole thing, to be honest. There shouldn’t be cameras in a toilet like that.”

A spokesperson for Worthing Borough Council said the cameras were not filming people using toilets and that footage was not monitored and stored securely, and only accessed if there was an incident.

The council explained the camera Mr Baker referred to was fixed and had no remote functionality, and was pointed at the walkway between the urinals and cubicles.

The spokesperson added: “It does not cover the urinals or the inside of the cubicles, clearly if it did this would indeed be completely unacceptable.

“The camera was installed following complaints from users of the facility of antisocial behaviour inside the building. Since the camera has been installed we have not had any further complaints.”

In response to Mr Baker’s main concern about the security of the data once recorded, the council added that the hard drive was password protected and stored in a secure locked cabinet.

“There is no remote access and no screen on site to view any footage,” the spokesperson said.

“If a member of the public did move the camera, they would not be able to access the footage.

"Our concern is ensuring that the toilets feel safe to use by members of the public, and to reduce the risk of anti-social activities. The camera has stopped that as an issue.”