Radar toilets have been around since 1981 when the first one was opened. Now, over 400 local authorities in all parts of the country have adopted the scheme as well as many public, voluntary and commercial organisations such as shopping centres, pubs, cafés, department stores, country parks, railway and bus stations, airports, motorway service areas and sports venues. You can now find toilets fitted with the RADAR key lock across the UK from Shetland to Jersey and Derry to Dover! Disabled people’s toilets have wide entrances and disability symbols on the door. Unlike regular public toilets, disabled toilets are often locked and previously they were only available for use on request. The Radar key scheme ensures that people who need to use accessible toilets don’t have to ask someone else to open the door for them before they can have a wee! Because disabled people's toilets are big, private and less likely to be occupied, they are open to misuse by the general public. The Radar Key Scheme enables these disabled toilets to be locked, to prevent vandalism and misuse.
However, there are lots of replica keys in circulation. There are some unscrupulous sellers on the Internet touting fake keys that are only 3 lever lock keys instead of the genuine 5 lever mortice lock keys. Not only do the replica, substandard keys not work reliably but they can actually damage the RADAR locks. This is one of the reasons, the manufacturers of the key and lock system redesigned the RADAR key a few years ago, to include a blue, plastic, heart-shaped top. This distinguishes it from copies. The blue heart also makes the key more comfortable to hold and easy to turn. We also still stock Genuine RADAR keys without the heart, purely for aesthetic reasons, available with our Italian Leather Key Rings.
The RADAR key itself is a large, chunky key, twice the size of a key for a Yale lock. The large size of the key, the ergonomic turning head and chunky ring, are all designed to be easier for people with physical impairments in mind. To make them easier to get out of a bag and into the lock. The builders' merchants who produce the keys and locks, Nicholls and Clarke estimate that more than a million of the distinctive keys are in use. The RADAR key lock is a very simple mechanism, built to last for a long time and to withstand constant daily use. The purpose of the key is less about security than about pointing out that people should not be using the toilets unless they have a genuine need.
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