13/07/2009 - Headlines backfire on shop joker
Tongue-in-cheek billboards outside a West Sussex sweet shop have landed owner John O'Sullivan in the sherbet.
Joke headlines such as "Crawley Girl Gives Birth to Pitbull" and "Horsham To Be Twinned With Botswana" have gone down with the council like a bag of acid drops at a mouth ulcer convention.
Says a spokesman: "We have received complaints, and as a message last week was considered to be potentially offensive, a street-scene officer from the council asked for its removal."
But John, who has run the Candy Box for the last two years, says he will carry on despite being "verbally threatened with prosecution" by the long arm of the law.
He was referring to an incident when a Sussex Police officer "while passing on routine patrol last month" had a "friendly conversation with the shop owner".
But according to John, the vast majority of people have seen the funny side. "People love them and they want to see more," he says.
And adds: "I'm doing it to make people laugh. We are in a recession, and there are a lot of people out there who need cheering up."
Copyright © Press Association 2009
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