THIS week an experienced MP was forced to lock himself in a toilet to avoid casting his vote in the wrong lobby in Westminster.

What should have been an easily rectifiable mistake - accidentally going in to the wrong room - turned in to a bit of a nightmare for SNP MP Angus MacNeil.

The Na h-Eileanan an Iar MP said he was distracted when he went to vote on whether the UK should have an EU referendum or not and found himself in the Aye lobby by accident.

Presumably by the time he realised his error the lobby doors were locked and he had nowhere to turn as he wasn't allowed to leave the room.

Spotting the vacant toilet he hid there until the vote was over, desperate to avoid being registered in favour of the referendum.

On the face of it, it seems like a humorous mistake which has been the butt of many jokes this week, both in the corridors and chambers of Westminster and on social media.

A Scottish Labour MP even made a toilet-themed running joke during the first Scottish Questions session on Wednesday.

But in reality, the fact a grown man was forced to lock himself in a toilet as he couldn't leave a room after making a simple mistake isn't really normal, is it? In real life, you'd simply explain you were in the wrong location, ask to be excused and go wherever you were going, perhaps slightly embarrassed. But not in Westminster.

The incident no matter how humorous, illustrates one of the many strange quirks of our Parliament. No clapping in the chamber, MPs yelling 'here here' at their colleagues when they agree with something, the fact MPs must stand up every time someone finishes speaking if they are waiting to ask a question, the way nobody but the speaker is allowed to use an MPs name in the house...the list goes on.

These archaic rules though don't really help to make politics as accessible as it could be for ordinary members of the public. Watching debates in the Commons chamber must seem like a bizarre game or ritual to those watching for the first time, more of a novelty than something serious.

But Westminster's strange laws and rules are just one element blocking politics for the average person. Many see politicians as unrelateable, with hundreds still fitting in to the upper class stereotype having not worked in a 'normal' job in their lives.

The new cohort of Scottish MPs however are breathing a bit more life into the creaking parliamentary corridors.

As published in our sister title The Herald, the demographic of the new intake shows a more balanced group with only a dozen or so coming from a previously political background. The rest have come from all over - barbers, engineers, students and teachers are among the jobs they had before going down south. They are also the Parliamentary group with the fewest number of privately educated representatives - something which is too quickly knocked in my opinion but should be taken into consideration nonetheless.

I'm glad Scotland is redressing the balance, and working towards making politics fairer and easier for people to engage with. But more needs to be done throughout the UK to create a more equal and fairer political system that is a true representation of society, not just a boy's club with bizarre rules and strange traditions. When we scrap some of these customs, let people out of the toilets and go where they need to be without fear of humiliation we'll be moving in the right direction.