A mum was forced to remove her ‘body bag’ halloween decorations after distressed neighbours complained they looked too real.
Caroline Ashley was stunned when a Liverpool Council worker allegedly visited her home on September 24 and demanded she remove the offending decorations from the front of her house.
The 41-year-old says she was visited by the council after a complaint from a neighbour, who was offended by the display.
After intially admitting she was baffled by the request as her kids ‘aren’t scared’ of the decorations, the mum-of-two eventually took them down to avoid causing any further offence.
Caroline said the council worker returned the following day to check the decorations had been taken down, and requested they be moved onto her property.
‘It’s the quickest the council has come out for anything,’ she said. ‘I put them up, and then he was round the following day.’
Caroline shared her dilemma in a local Facebook group, asking members: ‘are the body bags too much?’
But while most people praised her spooky display, others conceded that some may find it ‘upsetting’.
Caroline, from Liverpool, Merseyside, said: ‘I’ve always loved Halloween, I’ve been decorating my house for six years. I started getting a few bits and it’s just got bigger.
‘A neighbour was really upset, it obviously triggered something. I don’t want to offend anyone. That wasn’t the intention, it’s just a Halloween decoration, so they are in my garage.
‘It’s the quickest the council has come out for anything. I put them up and then he was round the following day.’
She added: ‘I took the stuff from the tree down and left the [other] stuff in the grass and then the following day they came round to check and make sure I’d taken it.
‘I said “listen, I’ve got to go and pick the kids up from school. If you need it taken now you’ll have to do it yourself”. He just took it all out and put it on my porch, which is fair enough.’
In a bid to avoid upsetting neighbours or passersby, Caroline says she’ll keep the body bag decorations in the garage in future.
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Caroline said: “When I was taking the stuff down off the tree there was a lady walking past. She was on the phone and she stopped and she said ‘what are you doing?’. I said ‘I’ve got to take them down, it’s not my land and I think we’ve upset a few people’.
‘She said “you are joking? I tell everyone about this house”. I said “don’t worry they can go on my land, I just need to get rid of them”.
‘Don’t be so sensitive, move them into your back garden or home.’
Liverpool City Council confirmed that a complaint was received and was ‘acted upon’.
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