60-year-old became victim of a futuristic toilet — but it was an outdated rescue system that sealed his fate

A man died after being crushed by a pop-up urinal in London. The incident occurred back in 2023 when 60-year-old Kevin Holding was performing maintenance work on the futuristic public toilet which dropped suddenly.

Mr Holding was pronounced dead outside of the Palace Theatre shortly before 4pm on January 27 according to an article from the BBC. CCTV caught the moment the urinal dropped suddenly and without warning, crushing the man to death. A post-mortem examination concluded that the cause of death was compression asphyxia, meaning Holding’s chest or abdomen was crushed, making it impossible to breathe.

How did Kevin Holding end up being crushed?

So you may be wondering, how does somebody get killed by a urinal? Well, this was no ordinary urinal. It was what’s known as a pop-up urinal. In London, (and some other cities) it’s not uncommon to see these public toilets which allow people to relieve themselves while out and about. 

These toilets are essentially cylindrical tubes that are stored underground. They use hydraulics to rise out of the ground at night to allow clubbers and bar-hoppers in the capital city to make use of them. However they are kept out of the way during the day. 

Holding had been performing some routine maintenance on one of these toilets when the freak accident occurred. The hydraulics failed, causing the heavy urinal to drop back into the hole from which it rose out of. Unfortunately for Holding, he was caught between the toilet and the ground which led to the weight crushing him.

Emergency services couldn’t lift the urinal

Holding had been working since around 10:00, 10:30am and was nearing the completion of his job around 13:00pm when the accident occurred. Emergency services were on the scene by 13:05 but there was little that could be done to help Holding until they could get the urinal off of him. Unfortunately there was a major delay in getting a vehicle that could move the heavy object. The vehicle arrived over two hours later, at 15:15pm.

Holding’s long-term partner, Katrina Woods is currently suing his employer for £200,000 (roughly $260,000) over his wrongful death. Woods’ barrister, Sion Brindle argued that the company did not provide proper training on how to safely work on the urinals, according to Metro.co.uk. 

However, Holding’s employer, Hi-Tech Washrooms Solutions, denies responsibility, claiming Kevin had ample experience and was responsible for his own safety. According to the defence barrister, the 60-year-old failed to lower the urinal before commencing his inspection. The case has not yet been decided in court.