Answer nature's call without leaving the car

Motorists going through the M1 toll booth near Drogheda, Co Louth, are getting full value for money, it seems, much to the irritation of local councillors.

A recent meeting of Louth Co Council heard that short-taken motorists were depositing their €1.60 to use the spanking new road and then making deposits of a different kind on the recently-built decorative stone walls nearby.

Motors understands the meeting listened in disgust at the news that the walls were being used as "piddling stations" by drivers because of the lack of facilities on the multi-million euro highway.

Clearly offenders have not heard of the "PWP Go Bag", an invention which could render the age-old motoring tradition of stopping by the side of a grassy verge or stone wall to "take a leak" a thing of the past.

The Go Bag is a portable, disposable in-car urinal. About 5,000 have already been sold, according to British-based Personal Waste Products (PWP), 1,000 to Irish customers. Now the distributor hopes to take the Irish market by storm and claims to have already made approaches to a major filling station company with a view to selling the bags on garage forecourts.

PWP says it's the perfect solution for "drivers and passengers in need of a public lavatory while out on the road travelling, stuck in traffic or, worse still, snowdrifts or queues caused by accidents and breakdowns."

Small enough to fit in your glovebox, the device comprises a toughened, leak-proof bag containing a second bag holding a crystal pouch. When nature calls, out comes the bag and off you go. The crystals solidify the urine into an odourless gel and the whole sorry mess can later be chucked into the nearest bin.

It all sounds like hard, indeed embarrassing, work, but PWP marketing director Carl Rees says the Go Bag gives drivers and passengers "the freedom to go whenever and wherever they want".

"The nightmare of being stuck in traffic jams and motorway queues when you are dying to use the loo is now a thing of the past," he says.

"You just put a blanket or an item of clothing over your lap and you are free to go. There's no mess, no odour and the bags can be disposed of in any normal bin."

Rees says the product is unisex and women can use it "relatively easily - it has been moulded and shaped to meet their needs."

The bags cost €11.35 for a three-pack or €28.50 for a 10-pack. They are used by the US army, campers and "outdoor pursuits people". Astonishingly, PWP claims the bags have "many other applications including for motorcycle users".