A FIRST time visitor to Salisbury had a trip he would rather forget after getting trapped in a public toilet for about three hours.

The 62-year-old man, who did not want to be named, had been enjoying a visit to the city on Sunday with his wife and stopped in Central car park.

He says he went to use the public toilets at about 3.45pm, which close at 4.30pm. "I checked the time it closed and checked my watch, it was 3.45pm, went in and did my business and came out and realised the shutter was down and I was locked in," he said. "I was hammering on the door."

He says he did not hear anyone shouting the toilets were about to close.

He called his wife on his mobile phone for help but they could not find any contact numbers to get hold of Salisbury City Council and instead rang 101.

The incident was reported to the police just after 4pm.

He said: "I tried to see if there were open windows to get out of but all the windows are solid and double glazed so I couldn't smash them to get out."

"The stench of the toilets was beyond comprehension," he added.

The 62-year-old says as the hours went by his concerns grew as he suffers from diabetes. He says this is when "alert levels" were raised and emergency services were sent to the scene.

"I'm diabetic and need to eat at certain times or I go into a hypo. It was extremely close," he said.

The fire service was mobilised just after 6pm and a crew from Salisbury attended along with the police and local council. Firefighters left the scene at about 6.20pm.

The 62-year-old says he would like to ensure contact numbers for the council are clearly on show in the future inside and outside.

A spokesman for Salisbury City Council, who are responsible for the public toilets, said: "It is an unfortunate incident and we are really sorry it happened. It should not have happened, we are in the process of speaking to our contractors and reviewing processes to make sure it does not happen again."