Women are claiming that they have been left inconvenienced by a new toilet block planned for a car park in a small Shropshire town – which has no female loo.And a space-age pay-as-you-go public toilet block dubbed “The Tardis” has got residents of another town so worried about getting locked in that some of them say they would rather relieve themselves in nearby bushes.

Developers of the new loos in the car park at Childe Road, Cleobury Mortimer, have been caught short by protests about the lack of a female toilet.

The Shropshire Council loo block offers a urinal for men, a toilet for the disabled and another section with unisex loos.

There are nappy changing facilities in all three sections but no separate ladies’ toilet.

Resident Jim Reynolds said: “A lady assures me that research many years ago made it clear toilet provision should give greater precedence to ladies because they require more time than men.”

Elsewhere in the county, pensioners in particular are said to be scared of being locked in the hi-tech loos at Shifnal.

But the 20p-a-visit toilets by the village hall are the only public conveniences available.

Councillor Gerald Nickless told a meeting of Shifnal Town Council on Thursday: “There is a real problem with those Tardis toilets. I saw a group of people up there and they weren’t using them, they were using the bushes instead. No-one uses them.”

His concerns were backed by residents who said the Shropshire Council-built toilets were known as “The Tardis” and claimed they were universally disliked.

Jane Blackstock said: “I wouldn’t go in there. They frighten me to death.”

Steven Brown, Shropshire Council’s head of environmental maintenance for south Shropshire, said: “We are carrying out a consultation on public toilet provision in Shropshire and encourage people to let us know of any concerns they have of public toilets in the county. We will visit the toilets to ensure that there are no problems with the lock systems. We would like to remind people that it is an offence to urinate in a public place.”