Last updated at 11:39 19 January 2005

Police are advising bar and club owners to use the lubricant WD-40 to cut down on cocaine use in their toilets, it emerged today.

Not only does the oil-based spray loosen screws, it is now claimed it stops drug users snorting coke from flat surfaces, including toilet seats, toilet seat covers and cisterns.

The oil-based colourless fluid apparently makes a line of white powder congeal and semi-dissolve, meaning it is impossible to snort.

An officer from Avon and Somerset Police is encouraging pub and club managers to use the spray to sabotage customers who snort cocaine in their toilets.

Avon and Somerset Police licensing officer, Pc Graham Pease, said the use of WD-40 was proving an effective way of combating drugs use in night-spots in Bristol.

'Congeals into a mess'

He told BBC Bristol: "It congeals into a mess, it then semi-dissolves it and prevents it being sniffed.

"The advice we give for cocaine is to spray level surfaces with WD-40 which prevents them from snorting it off these surfaces," he added.

"Licensees have been telling me they have had very positive effect with it, because you cannot see the WD-40, so the drug user puts the cocaine on it and cannot use it.

"Word soon spreads around and it aids prevention."

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said the force supported any idea which reduced drug use.

He said: "This is another tool in the war against drugs. We are always keen to reduce drug use and reduce drug related crime."

Managers of pubs and clubs in Bristol have been told about the powers of WD-40 for as long as three years on a course run by police.

Frequent use

Julian Bavaud, deputy manager of Bar Excellence in Bristol, said they now use WD-40 on a weekly basis.

He said: "We have to face up to the fact that coke is available in the city centre and will be used in our toilets.

"By spraying every flat surface in the toilet area the powder becomes sloppy so it can't be snorted.

"It really works and it is one way of tackling drug use in the bar. We don't spray it every night but perhaps once or twice a week."

He said that although WD-40 leaves a greasy feel, it was impossible for people to tell whether a surface had been treated or not.

A spokeswoman for WD-40 said the company did not advocate the use of the product to combat drugs as it was not meant to be digested.

She said: "As far as we are concerned it is not a use we would encourage."