There are 400 public toilets in London

It recommends that local authorities should have a statutory duty to provide adequate public toilets.

Toilet signs should be improved and there should be twice as many women's toilets in new developments, it said.

Joanne McCartney, who led the study, said a "complete rethink about the role that this public service has in a 21st century world city" was needed.

On the Underground only 88 out of 255 stations have public toilets and 13 bus stands have toilets.

This is not just an issue of "inconvenience"... it is about people's dignity and quality of life Joanne McCartney, London Assembly member

The London Assembly report warned that the closure of so many public toilets would result in a "quality of life crisis".

Chair of the Assembly's Health and Public Services Committee, Joanne McCartney, said: "This is not just an issue of inconvenience. It is about people's dignity and quality of life.

The study also highlighted the need for more toilets are the 2012 Olympics approaches.

It identified that Beijing was spending $48m (�27.4m) to have 4,700 public toilets for the 2008 - one every 500 metres.

The report also called for laws banning local authorities from charging for urinals to be repealed and a map of public toilets in the city to be produced by the mayor.