SatLav shows Londoners where to spend a penny

Christmas shoppers in London's West End that find themselves desperate for the loo this Christmas need worry no longer worry about where to spend a penny while spending their pounds.

Westminster City Council launched a new mobile phone text message service that, for a mere 25 pennies, will guide Londoners and tourists to their nearest public toilet.

Anyone who sends the word "Toilet" to 80097 will receive a reply giving details of their nearest public convenience.

Student Gail Knight, 26, came up with the idea for an innovation competition run by the council.

"When I'm out with friends we're always ducking into [fast food restaurants] or department stores to use their loos but we feel a bit bad about it," she said. "I thought a text service would be really useful for people on the move."

The service is available across the London borough of Westminster, an area that includes many of the capital's most popular sights, such as Big Ben, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, as well as London's main shopping locations Oxford Street and Regent Street.

Unlike in-car devices that rely on satellites to pinpoint someone's location, the SatLav uses mobile phone technology, determining location based on which mobile phone mast the text is relayed from.

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