OPEN-AIR toilets intended to stop people urinating in Maidstone's streets at weekends are due to be in place by Friday night.

Two experimental mobile urinals, each designed for four men, are expected to be in position outside the Town Hall and near the cannon in High Street from 7pm to answer clubbers' calls of nature.

They are being given a four-month trial by Maidstone council at a cost of £2,000. The move comes in response to traders' complaints about late-night revellers urinating in alleyways and shop doorways.

The toilets are designed for men only - but the council and the Town Centre Management Initiative have said that a permanent male and female public toilet in the town centre is still a priority.

The trial is being supported by town centre manager Bill Moss who claims that they will help make Maidstone better equipped for the 14,000 people who use pubs, clubs and bars in the town centre every weekend.

He said: "We have had a lot of complaints from shop owners about this, especially in the Bank Street area where there are dark alleyways. We are hoping to have a proper brick-built toilet building in the town centre, but that could not happen quickly and the problem is there right now.

"We are fully supporting the toilets and if the trial works we hope it will become a regular feature in the town."

The toilets are both positioned near CCTV cameras to deter vandals and will be cleaned and emptied promptly by the council's contractors.

Council spokesman Ian Tucker said: "The toilets will be in position at 7pm and they are collected, emptied and cleaned the next morning by our contractors. They have a capacity of 100 gallons and similar ones in Westminster have never been filled up in a single night."