A man was tragically killed by a device known as a “telescopic urinal” in London’s West End on Friday.
“Telescopic urinals” are pop-up toilets stored underground during the day and raised hydraulically to street level at night for people to use. They were created to prevent public urination at night in the street.
The pop-up toilet was located across from the Palace Theater that’s currently showing the play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
The dead man was a worker performing routine maintenance on the toilet. After the tragic incident, the Westminister City Council closed a second pop-up urinal down the road.
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“Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the friends and family of the worker who tragically died at this site in the West End,” a council spokesman said.
“We have been on site supporting our contractor and the emergency services and will assist all investigations in any way we can.”
A Scotland Yard spokesman said on Friday: “Despite the efforts of emergency services, the man who was critically injured in Cambridge Circus was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin has been informed.”
The victim sustained crush injuries while working on the ‘telescopic urinal’ at the location, the Met police said.
The London Fire Brigade said he was trapped below street level “underneath” the urinal. He was treated by paramedics but died despite their efforts.
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There is no official word on how the crush injury to the man occurred. He was found underneath the pop-up toilet, and a crane had to be brought in to lift it. How he was trapped, however, remains a mystery.
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