Drunks to get a rude awakening in Caen

Drunk men will get a taste of their own medicine if they try to urinate in streets in Caen as the Normandy town is testing anti-pee paint to bounce the urine back on the men’s shoes.

The council will paint an area of about 40m2 of town centre wall with the hydrophobic paint to see if it works. It will be done in a zone covered by the town’s CCTV cameras.

Although Caen is testing the paint it does not intend to use it across the town and it will be up to businesses and residents to buy it if they feel the need.

Anti-urine paint has been used to some effect in Hamburg but tests in Bordeaux in 2016 found problems: it can bleach the wall, which is a no-no in the Unesco world heritage city centre, and it costs €100/m2.

This expense also threw up another problem: complaints were always from tenants of buildings but only property owners could decide to buy and use the anti-urine paint.