AN INCONTINENT 23-year-old man has pleaded with Gwynedd Council to keep all their public toilets open.

Rob Poultney, who lives in Chwilog with his two-year-old son Isaac and fiancée Mererid, is currently in Ysbyty Gwynedd fighting against an inflammatory bowel disease which saw him lose six inches of his bowel after complications following surgery last Christmas.

He also wears a colostomy bag as a result of his condition.

Rob suffers from Crohn’s Disease, an affliction that more 100,000 people across the UK suffers from, and without public toilets his standard of life would dramatically decrease.

“Having Crohn’s has such an impact on your life,” the brave former marine engineer told the Cambrian News.

“I was diagnosed back in 2004 and it’s had a devastating effect on my life – at 22 years of age I became completely incontinent and took the decision with the surgical team at Ysbyty Gwynedd to have a colostomy formed in February last year.

“Every time I go out I have to plan my journeys around where public toilets are readily available otherwise I can’t leave the home for fear of having an accident or my colostomy bag coming off or needing to be emptied.

“There are hundreds more people in Gwynedd like me, just some are too embarrassed to speak up about these problems and I’ve been there too, but I feel like it’s time I fight for what’s important to me and my condition and put something back into the community.”

Rob has subsequently set up an online petition demanding Gwynedd Council reverses its decision to close 50 of the 73 public toilets currently spread out across the county.

See the full story in this week’s Arfon/Dwyfor and Meirionnydd editions of the Cambrian News