A toilet costing the taxpayer £18 every time it was used has now been removed.

Council chiefs saw a six-figure sum go down the pan to remove the Universal Superloo prefab town centre toilet.

We reported last year how Hyndburn council was spending £100,000 to cancel a contract renewed in 2002 on the Superloo, which was used less than five times a day on average.

This meant the cost to the council – minus the 20p charge –was £18.38 for every time the toilet was used.

The convenience was removed earlier this month and paved over, with council bosses saying it will save them £200,000 in the long term.

Council leader Miles Parkinson told the Observer: “The issue has now been resolved.

“The previous administration had signed for a Superloo costing the council £18 every time someone used it – even though there was a public convenience less than a stone’s throw away.

“It has now been removed and the paving has been made good.

“It has saved the council £200,000.”

Included in the £100,000 bill was a termination fee of £30,000, £8,000 removal costs and a decade’s worth of penalty charges.

The Superloo was sited just outside the Peel Street public toilets. The annual rental costs of the Universal Superloo, owned by JC Decaux, were up to £29,300.

Concerns were raised at the time about the toilet attracting drug-related and sexually-related anti-social behaviour.

Tory group leader Peter Britcliffe blamed Labour for the fiasco. He said: “The toilets were put into the town centre circa 1997 when Labour were in charge.

“It was me who promoted this problem and if I had not identified this it would still be there. It’s remarkable.”