Council shut second pop-up urinal after toilet worker crushed to death

Council shuts second pop-up urinal after toilet worker is crushed to death in West End horror: Man is trapped ‘below street level’ just yards from Harry Potter theatre

• Emergency services tried to save the man at Cambridge Circus in London 
• Accident took place just yards away from the Harry Potter theatre

A second pop-up urinal has been shut after a toilet worker was crushed to death in London’s West End on Friday afternoon. 

The man had been ‘trapped below street level underneath a hydraulic urinal’, the London Fire Brigade confirmed. 

Westminster City Council said it is temporarily shutting down the second of its UriLift toilets, on Villiers Street, as a ‘precautionary measure’.

A spokesman for the council said: ‘Our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with the friends and family of the worker who tragically died at this site in the West End.

The pop-up urinal that crushed a man to death in London’s West End this afternoon was spotted being held up by a crane

Westminster City Council said that it was temporarily shutting down the second of its UriLift toilets, on Villiers Street, as a ‘precautionary measure’

‘We have been on site supporting our contractor and the emergency services and will assist all investigations in any way we can.’

Emergency services tried to save the man, who has not been named, but he died at the scene at Cambridge Circus on the junction between Shaftesbury Avenue and Charing Cross Road – outside the Palace Theatre, where the Harry Potter play is being shown.

The victim was performing maintenance on the pop-up urinal which rises from the pavement for those out in London at night.  

A man has been killed after being ‘trapped’ and ‘crushed’ by a ‘telescopic’ public urinal in Cambridge Circus in central London

Telescopic urinals are pop-up facilities that rise up from the pavement for those out in London at night

Four fire engines, 25 firefighters and multiple ambulances attended the scene. A police tent has been put up at the scene

Ambulance crews, an air ambulance and firefighters were dispatched at 1.05pm and police were called five minutes later. The man was freed earlier on Friday but was pronounced dead soon after.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘We’re sorry to have to update that, 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 have been informed. Cordons remain in place at the location.

‘Police were called at around 1.10pm on Friday January 27, to a seriously injured man at Cambridge Circus, W1.

‘The man is thought to have sustained crush injuries while working on a telescopic urinal at the location.’

A crane was brought to the scene in an attempt by rescuers to lift the entire device out of the ground

The incident has taken place near The Palace Theatre, which is where Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is performed

A London Ambulance Service spokesman said: ‘We were called today at 1.05pm to reports of an incident on Shaftesbury Avenue, Charing Cross.

‘We sent a number of resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, members of our hazardous area response team, members of our tactical response unit and a medic in a fast response car.

‘We also dispatched London’s Air Ambulance.

‘Sadly, despite the best efforts of our crews, a man was pronounced dead at the scene.’

A London Fire Brigade spokesman said: ‘Firefighters were called to a person trapped on Charing Cross Road in central London.

Firefighters tirelessly attempted to rescue the man, who was trapped under the device 

An air ambulance was seen landing in Trafalgar Square while a large number of ambulances and fire engines attended the scene

London Ambulance Service dispatched an Air Ambulance

A crane was brought to the scene in an attempt by rescuers to lift the entire device out of the ground

‘A man was trapped below street level underneath a hydraulic urinal.

‘Firefighters worked with partner agencies and used a winch to free him.

‘He was left in the care of London Ambulance Service and was sadly pronounced dead at the scene.

‘The brigade was called at 1.05pm and the incident was over by 3.41pm. Four fire engines and around 25 firefighters from Soho, Euston and Dowgate fire stations were at the scene.’

An air ambulance was seen landing in Trafalgar Square while a large number of ambulances and fire engines attended the scene.

A crane was brought to the scene in an attempt by rescuers to lift the entire device out of the ground.

Hydraulic, pop-up urinals were brought into use by Westminster City Council about 20 years ago in an attempt to discourage street urination. 

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