Sir.-As ever, the French and Germans are ahead of us - this time in toilet design.

In France they have a wonderful device known as a "pissoir", which is cheap and not easily open to abuse.

In Germany some toilets have a "vomitorium", which is self explanatory.

The pop-up toilet sounds very expensive and its running costs over its lifecycle even more so.

An estimate of a fixed pissoir-type urinal and a comparison with this proposal may concentrate minds on value for money.

-H M Kent, Basingstoke.

Sir.-What a great idea to install these pop-up toilets for the use of pub-goers to use once they have left the establishments, as at the moment there are hardly any public toilets open late at night.

The only concern I have is that these toilets will be treated with the same respect as the newly-installed bus shelters have been by the mindless vandals of this town.

Perhaps these toilets can be fitted with an extra device that will grab the vandal, disappear back into the ground, and hold them there until morning.

Just a thought.

-Winklebury resident, Basingstoke.