A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER was locked in a public toilet for 12 hours.

Gwyneth Coles, 77, went to the toilet in her home town of Pickering, North Yorkshire.

A caretaker came along and shouted, "anyone in?" However, he failed to hear her replying, "yes, I am in here. I won't be a minute."

Friends and relatives became worried when she failed to return home and called the police who issued a nationwide missing person alert.

Meanwhile Mrs Coles put four jumpers on under a jacket and a mac and settled down for the night. She even managed to grab some sleep on a toilet.

She was finally released when a caretaker came back at 7am and found her inside.

Mrs Coles said: "This will go down in the family history - the night grand-grandma got locked in the loo. I think it's hilarious now, although it was pretty traumatic at the time.

"I was coming back home from holiday in Inverness when it happened. I came back by train and got on the Yorkshire Coastliner bus in York. When I got to Pickering I decided to spend a penny at the loos in Eastgate.

"When I was inside, the caretaker came along and I heard him shout; 'anyone in?' I said; 'Yes, I'm in here, I won't be a minute,' but he can't have heard and I could hear the door being locked. He should have checked the cubicles really.

"I went to bang on the door and was shouting out, but he didn't hear. If I'd had by mobile phone with me I'd have been alright, I could have rung someone, but I didn't."

She said she tried to alert passers by but to no avail.

She added: "Fortunately, I had my luggage with me and I found four jumpers to put on. They thought at first I had gone to sleep on the bus to Whitby."

Mrs Coles's friend, Charles Mercer, said he alerted the police after she failed to return home on Monday evening.

A Ryedale District Council official apologised for the incident and said a frull investigation had been launched.

John Davison, director of operations, said: "We are extremely sorry that this regrettable incident has occurred.

"A thorough investigation into how this situation occurred is being held and we will do our utmost to ensure that an incident of this type is not repeated.

"As part of the investigation we will also be considering what emergency systems - such as emergency doors and communication systems linked to our 24-hour suppport system - are available to built into the facilities to improve safety within our public toilets."