Man's four-day toilet ordeal

2007-12-10 17:46

London - A man spent four days trapped in a freezing public toilet in northeast Scotland after the door slammed shut behind him and the handles fell off, a report said on Monday.

Retired teacher David Leggat spent 16 hours of each day in pitch darkness, drinking ice-cold tap water and fighting off sub-zero temperatures by dipping his feet in a basin of warm water, the Aberdeen Evening Express newspaper said.

The 55-year-old was eventually released when a cleaner, who kept her equipment in the gents' toilets, heard his cries for help and raised the alarm. He was freed with the help of a screwdriver last Thursday.

"I had nothing with me to eat so I sipped cold tap water to keep me going," Leggat, whose ordeal happened at the crown green bowling club in the city where he is in charge of wine stocks, was reported as saying.

"I did a survival course once and knew I had to keep my feet warm, so I kept running a basin of hot water and putting my feet in to send the heat through my body."

No-one raised the alarm after his disappearance as Leggat is unmarried, while the toilets are rarely used in the winter, the paper said.

"At least there was a toilet to use," Leggat added. "The only thing I regret is not getting trapped behind the bar."

- AFP