Castle Beach toilets, Falmouth closed after mechanical failure.

There was a blockage at the first non-return valve of the compressor, the main culprit was a pebble larger than the size of a tennis ball somebody thought  was a good idea to put down the loo as well as the various rags/clothing and a drain rod end as in the image below.

A combination of a huge influx of tourists and Victorian plumbing has resulted in a 'major' mechanical failure at a popular Falmouth beach's public toilets.

The toilets at Castle Beach are out of action following a fault with a compressor originally installed in the 1850s.

Engineers fixed the problem today after finding old rags, rbh.

In a statement Falmouth Town Council said: "Our apologies, but because of a major mechanical failure, castle beach toilets remain out of order.

"We're working hard to resolve this and will update again as soon as we can."

The problems started just over a week ago over the bank holiday weekend and a specialist company was booked to come and empty the toilet's sump on the Friday but because of the sheer volume of tourists in the county at the time it wasn't completed until the Sunday. Toilets from all over the county were under similar pressure and the specialist companies available were at full stretch.

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Once the sump was drained it was thought the problem had been solved but when the system was tested this week, instead of the water being sent back into the compressor room under the road it was going back into the toilets.

Engineers now need to get to the 'return valves' to try and correct the fault which they are due to do this afternoon. But Simon Penna from Falmouth Town Council says because the compressor is so old if it needs new parts they might not be available.