Pee-back time: council introduces ‘bounce off’ walls in bid to slash street urination

Desperate measures: the council seeks revenge on street pee-ers

People who urinate in public could be in for a shock after Hackney Council announced the introduction of walls that “wee back”.

The council’s neighbourhoods team has applied an anti-urine coating – which apparently completely repels liquid – to walls in two popular “wetspots” in Shoreditch and Dalston.

Anyone using the walls to relieve themselves will “see their urine bounce off, covering their shoes and trousers,” the council warned.

However, the council would not reveal the precise location of the walls.

The council spends £100,000 per year washing urine off walls and pavements, and has this year fined more than 500 people for public urination – a threefold increase on last year.

The coating is also designed to stop urine soaking into the wall, reducing stains and smells.

Councillor Feryal Demirci, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Environment, said: “No one wants someone weeing on their own doorstep, yet some people continue to do it on the doorsteps of our residents and businesses.

“If the prospect of a fine doesn’t put them off from weeing in the street, maybe the risk of getting covered in urine will.”