You can get a €130 fine for wildplassen (pissing in the street in most districts), but folk don’t want a urinoir in full sight the middle of the uitgangspleinen (entertainment district area) during the daytime.
So these spring up at night time, then disappear below during daytime.
I found the report; there are varying accounts of exactly what happened. What they state is the unfortunate chap (who may have been a worker for the company providing these devices) had parked his scooter nearby, when the urinoir then suddenly opened with a large bang and the metal covers sprung up, tipping the scooter on top of him (au!/ouch!). This suggests that something like a compressed gas cylinder used to trigger the lifting mechanism unexpectedly failed at full pressure.
He survived but suffered 8 broken ribs, concussion, a broken wrist and a hole in his upper arm; and was taken to hospital by Emergency Ambulance.
I am not sure if these devices have been put back into service since the accident. In Groningen a popular piratenlied is “Doe mij de oale WC”, where this middle aged dude sings about his 80 year old nan reminiscing and telling him (amongst other memories) how she prefers the old wooden outside WC. She may well have a good point.
Man zwaargewond door uitschuivend toilet – AT5: de nieuwszender van Amsterdam en omgeving
Urinoirliften tijdelijk buiten gebruik na ongeluk
Auch wenn du am Abgrund stehst, und gar nichts mehr verstehst,
wachen Engel über dich, halten dich im Licht und lassen dich nie fallen.
