'Incontinence stopped me going out,' says footballer

Roughly one in every three men over the age of 65 in the UK face urinary incontinence, according to the Prostate Cancer UK charity

An athlete and a former semi-pro footballer says he has been "put off from leaving his house" due to incontinence, even though sanitary bins for men are becoming more widespread.

Joe Appiah, from Kent, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer aged 51, is campaigning for all the county's football clubs to have the facilities.

After successful surgery he says his life has changed because he is now worried about incontinence.

He told BBC Radio Kent: "I remember having a number of accidents in the early stages of my recovery and it wasn't pleasant."

Roughly one in every three men over the age of 65 in the UK face urinary incontinence, according to the Prostate Cancer UK charity.

In June, Govia Thameslink Railway said it had installed sanitary bins in nearly 500 male toilet cubicles for men experiencing incontinence.

And in November, Manchester United announced it would become the first Premier League club to offer male sanitary facilities, including the use of sanitary bins and pads.

'It won't go away'

Mr Appiah recalled getting off a train in London on one occasion and finding all the toilets locked, which he said had led to him having an "accident".

He said he had had another incident while he was training for athletics, adding: "Myself and a lot of men have to think a lot about 'Do I want to go out? If I do, are there going to be facilities around?'"

He is now campaigning for every football club in Kent to provide sanitary products and have sanitary bins for men experiencing incontinence.

He said: "I'm never going to have to recover from it. It has improved but it won't go away."