Teignmouth Town Council has apologised after two people had to be freed by the fire brigade when they got trapped – separately – inside a rogue public toilet cubicle.

The first person got stuck in the loos at The Den just before 9am on Saturday (November 7), due to a faulty lock on the cubicle door. The cleaner on duty was unable to release them, and in the end firefighters had to force the door open.

But before the cubicle had been closed off to the public, another person went in and also became trapped, requiring a second visit by the fire crew to free them.

The double incident attracted comments on social media about the 40p cost of using the loos, and speculation over the safety of the town’s new public toilet blocks.

Teignmouth Town Council has now published a statement apologising for the ‘distress and inconvenience caused to those involved’ and saying it has ‘taken the matter seriously’.

The council said: “On Monday 9th November, the faulty lock was removed and taken away for further examination to establish the cause of the problem and help prevent a recurrence.”

It added: “We are also aware of speculation on social media suggesting that these incidents are connected to a previous issue at the Point public toilets.

“We would like to clarify that these are separate and unrelated incidents. The issue at The Point involved a technical fault with the alarm system and main roller shutter, rather than a faulty toilet cubicle lock.”

The last time Teignmouth Town Council had to issue a toilet-related apology was in September, when the problem was getting into the loos, not getting out of them.

Staff shortages on Sunday, September 27 caused all the town council-run conveniences to remain locked until 5pm, prompting complaints about lack of access to the facilities.