MOST of the houses in Britain are not built with a downstairs toilet and this is a great disadvantage to elderly people who struggle getting up the stairs in their home.

If there was a downstairs toilet an elderly person could sleep on the ground floor and live independently for at least another ten years, maybe more.

The ideal home for a pensioner is a bungalow.

With a downstairs toilet, a house could be used like a bungalow and the upstairs rooms could be left unused.

Ideally houses should have two toilets.

These days, people often live into their 80s and 90s and having two toilets would help to them to stay independent for much longer in their own homes.

TERRY HAYWARD Burnham Road Swindon