Never mind how slick your convenience offering is, do you know that toilets are the number one irritant to customers when it comes specifically to the forecourt shop, according to Palmer and Harvey/Him! research?

An astonishing 54% said toilet facilities (or lack thereof) was something that currently annoyed them; and that either introducing toilets or improving the existing facilities, was seen by 65% of those surveyed as the number one step forecourts could take in order to attract more female shoppers.

Chief among the irritants is forcing customers to ask for a key to access the poor-quality facilities more than half cited the key as a major factor in their distaste for using forecourt loos.

Is this view justified? How proud are you of your toilet facilities? Could they be affecting your bottom line?

To try and turn this rather unsavoury view into something more positive, Forecourt Trader has decided to launch an online campaign to find the best and the worst of the nation’s forecourt loos.

The competition will run via a Facebook campaign, which will open up discussion, engage with consumers, and encourage them to join in the hunt. The main criteria to be a winner include quality of facilities, appearance, hygiene, cleanliness, accessibility, maintenance, and signposting.

We’re asking you to send in your nominations with relevant photography of course so that we can put your facilities online to face a public vote. You will need to encourage your customers to ’like’ your loo. The site with the most ’likes’ subject to complying with competition criteria will be named as ’Best Forecourt Loo 2013’. The worst offenders will also be exposed for all to see.

The results will be announced at the Forecourt Show at the NEC in Birmingham in April. Send your nomination in to merril.boulton@wrbm.com. ’Like’ the Facebook page Forecourt Trader Best Loo. Full details are available on the Forecourt Trader website www.forecourttrader.co.uk.