Driven round U-bend by loo-turn

Baffled drivers are hoping to flush out the truth about an unexplained mobile toilet in the middle of a busy Black Country junction.

The portable loo has been left between several lanes of traffic on Lichfield Street, in Walsall, next to the town's Arboretum – more than three weeks since completion of its multi-million pound revamp.

Passing motorists have been seen staring in confusion at the green plastic cabin, which appears to be providing drivers with light relief at an often congestion-hit junction.

The complicated network of lanes at the gateway to the town, which cost millions of pounds to create, has come in for heavy criticism since it re-opened more than three weeks ago. Road workers based in nearby Littleton Street said that they had no idea why the toilet was in its unusual location.

Pensioner Maurice Webster, who is aged 61 and from Shelfield, said: "It's beyond me why it's there.

"I suppose it's great for any drivers that might be caught short as they're stuck in a traffic, which is quite appropriate considering how much congestion this new junction causes," he said.

Cliff Kirby-Tibbits, a director at Jabez Cliff leather works, in nearby Lower Forster Street, said: "No-one has been working there for weeks, but the toilet's still there. It reminds me of that old TV series Clochemerle, which was all about a new urinal in a French village square."

Councillor Anthony Harris, who is a Walsall Council cabinet member for highways, said that he was aware the portable loo had been left there.

"A small amount of finishing off work at the Arboretum junction is being done on kerbs and pavements which is being done by contractors who do need to stop from time to time for comfort-breaks.

"I'm sure members of the public perfectly understand this. We're absolutely committed to the health and safety of our contractors and providing a toilet for them is all part of that," he said.