maybe that's a fetish
someone walked in and caught her and she claimed, no it blew up
Woman sues rail line for 'exploding' toilet
A woman is suing Chicago's regional rail system for injuries sustained when a toilet she used "exploded" underneath her. Artist's (tasteful) interpretation of an exploding toilet. In a complaint filed in Cook County Circuit Court in Illinois, Julianna Mandernach accuses the Chicago Metra line of negligently allowing public …
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Saturday 30th January 2010 20:55 GMT Anonymous Coward
Not so outlandish
Holding a company responsible for maintenance and repairs is one way to ensure that these repairs take place. Without the threat of financial consequences, many companies would simply allow their equipment to deteriorate.
In this specific case, much depends on how long the problem had existed. If the breakdown had just happened, then this woman has no case. If this condition had existed for longer - many hours or days - then the company should at *least* have locked the door or posted a sign warning against use.
Certainly, the US is highly litigious. However, that doesn't make all lawsuits frivolous.
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Saturday 30th January 2010 20:55 GMT LinkOfHyrule
ewww No don't do that!....
...especially on the train... I went to use the loo on-board a South West Train from Waterloo the other week and this appeared to have been going on judging from the "mountain" that was left as evidence!
Looks like I had a lucky escape, could of got covered in kittens had it blown up!
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Saturday 30th January 2010 20:57 GMT Ian Michael Gumby
A correction..
The passenger's weight didn't force the toilet to explode, it was when she flushed, the toilet exploded.
Living in Chicago, I am amazed that anyone had the guts to go in to use the toilet in the first place.
Not the most sanitary places to take a dump
I choose Paris because well, maybe it was a fetish thing gone wrong?
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Saturday 30th January 2010 00:25 GMT Il Midga di Macaroni
She should see the average station dunny out here in the colonies...
... And I don't mean the bus shelter on the platform which the drunks are using as a dunny.
Anyway, didn't the Mythbusters do something about exploding toilets? And conclude that you'd have to deliberately blow one up to make it blow up?
Grenade for obvious reasons.
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Sunday 31st January 2010 17:34 GMT Andus McCoatThen
Myth Busted...
That was actually two different myths they tried involving toilets and ignition.
The first was the old gag of the wife using solvents to clean the bowl, and the husband launching himself using a match and 'flammable fumes' from the bowl he was seated on while smoking.
Thoroughly busted.
The second was a variation on that theme where (IIRC) the bowl at a gas station was cleaned (or had petrol disposed into) the bowl, and a punter ignited Dante's Inferno by answering his mobile while he wasn't.
Also quite busted.
On a moving train, it is possible that the plumbing system is designed poorly so that the sloshing in the holding tank could slosh back "upstream" and if the valve in the toilet is open at just the wrong moment... Bloosh. Most systems like that in buses or motorhomes are designed with a trap to prevent such unpleasantness. I have no information about rail carriage plumbing however.
Mine's the one with the magazine labeled "Best read in private" in the pocket.
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Sunday 31st January 2010 17:34 GMT heyrick
You CAN get splattered
You can get splattered if your toilet connects to a macerator (known around here as a "masher") which grinds everything up into a wet brown sludge, then pumps it at high pressure so it can go UP ten-odd metres or along forty metres, either into a disposal system (fancy) or a stream (non-fancy).
If the pipe is not secured, or is damaged, the results can be spectacular.
I don't however envisage this being used on a train. Don't they tend to empty pretty much straight down?
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Monday 1st February 2010 10:08 GMT Martin Usher
The other problem with british style train toilets
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7268693.stm
This "empty onto the tracks" design is also used in places such as India. As the story above says a lady gave birth prematurely in such a toilet, the infant slid down the bowl onto the tracks causing mother to jump off the train and rescue the infant. (That's adreneline for you -- she probably would have stopped the train with her bare hands if necessary!) Both mother and daughter seem to be doing well....
Back to the real story which is not about misdirected excrement so much as Metra being one of those local agencies that seem to exist just to get sued.
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Tuesday 2nd February 2010 12:40 GMT Andus McCoatover
Not just British..
Finnish trains the same. If you need a 'number-2' on VR.fi's trains, when it's parky outside (like, -30), and if the seal on the loo - press that pedal, watch the world go by* - ain't perfect, it'll bring tears to your eyes. Oh, don't forget the windchill factor. It's like the end-of-your-Old-Cigar's been subject to -50, and the contents of your 'nads have been preserved for your great granddaughter. No wonder Finland's the most sparsely populated European country...("Did you buy some condoms, darling"? "Nah, I just took a dump on the intercity")
* Is the bottom falling out of your world? Take EX-LAX ©, and the world falls out of your bottom.
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Monday 1st February 2010 13:12 GMT Michael 28
Risk Assessment????
A MANDATORY requirement when using a public convenience on any form of public transport.
(And some train / bus stations and Airports too)
Did she make a visual check of the pan for blockage and potentially biohazardous material?
Did she make sure the door was capable of being secured?
Did she ensure there was sufficient sanitary material ( bog roll) to ensure she didn't place her fellow passengers at risk?
etc etc.....
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Monday 1st February 2010 15:19 GMT misterPaul
RE: plague of toads
Alexa harbors some clue to the cause of this plague.
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/theregister.co.uk
A recent influx of additional readers compared to 3 months ago. The cause? One can only assume the masses have realised the impending mechanised apocalypse is fast approaching, and must demand IT angles on any and all writing. Thus they hope to glean some clue as to how our soon-to-be cloud based overlords can be defeated.
Either that or people are becoming ever more pedantic twirps.
On an unrelated note, the average Reg reader, according to Alexa, is a middle aged, childless, male. Shocking.
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