TEACHERS lifted the lid on spending a penny at work yesterday, warning that a lack of staff loos was leading to bowel problems and urinary infections.

The proverbial hit the fan at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference, where delegates heard that some teachers were having to share facilities with kids.

Others were being forced to trek to distant buildings and stand in loo queues during breaks, teachers said.

Opining that the union needed to get to “the bottom of the matter,” Birmingham delegate Caroline Milne said: “Supply staff are often not told where toilets are: this must be a health-and-safety issue.”

She said that having to share bathrooms with kids denied teachers privacy.

“I’ve often heard staff crying in toilets after 60 minutes of bullying at the hands of 30 13-year-olds,” she said.

Lancashire teacher Les Ridings said a “change of demographics” in schools, which now employ far more staff than in the past, had led to a far greater demand for staff loos.

He warned this exacerbate “bowel problems and waterworks problems, and it’s causing all sorts of issues.”

Siobhan McKenna, a union rep in Liverpool, said an art teacher she had met on a training course had become visibly upset over her lack of access to facilities.

The teacher had not been allowed access to her nearest staff loo, due to only being a temp, and would have to walk a considerable distance to a different building.

“A few weeks later she got really ill, she got a urinarytract infection, and she had to leave the course,” Ms McKenna reported.

Bradford delegate Glyn Kenyon said staff at some schools in his area were expected to use disabled toilets that “open onto the corridor.”

He said this had led to “the odd surprise where doors have been opened” by kids from the other side. But he warned that it would be hard to pull the flush on the problem as legal protections had gone down the pan.

“Staff deserve better than that,” he added. “They deserve privacy.”

The motion was passed overwhelmingly, mandating the union to commission research into toilet provision and make guidance available to schools.