A learning disability champion is campaigning for new, improved and more accessible disabled-friendly toilets in Epsom town centre to preserve the “dignity” of disabled people who might otherwise be forced to change on dirty floors.

Ciara Lawrence-Evans, 36, from Epsom, has urged councillors to bring a Changing Places toilet to the borough.

The facilities would include an enlarged disabled toilet with enough room for the disabled person and two carers equipped with a height-adjustable changing bench with a hoist system, a screen or curtain to allow privacy and a centrally-placed toilet.

Surrey Comet:

The Larches Centre in Waterloo Road has a Changing Places toilet but this is only open five days a week (Monday to Friday) and Mrs Lawrence-Evans (pictured above) believes there should be similar facilities in the town which are always accessible.

She explained: “It is great if you are going to the toilet Monday to Friday, but what about people who need it every day?

“Everyone goes to the toilet, but for people who have profound and multiple learning disabilities, unless they have the right facilities, they can’t go out. They need places like Changing Places.”

From May: Epsom disability campaigner's petition demanding apology from dating website OkCupid over 'offensive' question is signed by 2,500 people

Mrs Lawrence-Evans is a campaigns support officer for Mencap who launched a national campaign in May calling for dating website OkCupid to apologise for an “offensive” question used to build profiles of users.

She will meet Epsom and Ewell Borough councillor Barry Nash next month to discuss the possibility of bringing Changing Places to Epsom, and plans to start a petition to raise awareness of the issue.

She said: “General disabled toilets are not good enough. Some people who get changed in them have to get changed on a dirty floor because there is not enough room and that is not dignified.”

“I think there needs to be more accessible places for people to go.”

There are currently 864 Changing Places toilets in the UK, including one at nearby theme park Chessington World of Adventures. They are used by more than 250,000 people, including those with profound and multiple learning disabilities, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy as well as older people, according to Changing Places.

For more information, visit http://www.changing-places.org/