Circus ordered to take down posters after ONE complaint from a woman who is scared of clowns _ Mail Online.pdf

8/14/2019 Circus ordered to take down posters after ONE complaint from a woman who is scared of clowns _ Mail Online.pdf

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Circus ordered to take down posters after ONEcomplaint from a woman who is scared of

clowns

Decision made in Leighton Buzzard after one complaint in town of 28,000

Unnamed female complainant said she was scared to driv e past posters

She told Leighton Buzzard Town Hall Council she has coulrophobia

Council tells ci rcus not to come back with clown promotional posters

Ringmaster John Lawson describes decis ion as 'absolutely ridiculous'

By William Turvill

PUBLISHED: 16:15 GMT, 18 October 2013 | UPDATED: 16:46 GMT, 18 October 2013

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A council has removed posters advertising a circus following a complaint from a woman who is scared ofclowns.

Leighton Buzzard Town Hall Council said it took down the adverts after one complaint - in a town of 28,000people.

An unnamed female resident told the authority the posters were scaring her whenever she drove past them,explaining that she suffers from coulrophobia.


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A council has taken down post ers advertising a circus after a complaint from someone

who is afraid of clowns

The council removed all of the posters and told the circus not to come back to the town unless it usespromotional material without clowns on it.

'We take complaints on a case by case basis but this was a short-term, easily solvable problem,' saidcouncil operations officer Lisa Jarvis.

'The circus is on the park which is our responsibility and we are responsible to our residents, so somethinglike that is in our gift to fix, so we fixed it.'

Circus owner and ringmaster John Lawson said the decision was 'absolutely ridiculous' because the circusis only in town for a couple of days.

'What does she do when she drives past McDonalds, I wonder? It's victimisation,' he said.

'We don't know who it is, but if we did, we'd gladly offer her tickets to come and see... that our friendlyclown is nothing to be scared of.'


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John Lawson (right ), owner of t he circus, may not be allowed back to Leighton Buzzard

if he doesn't remove clowns from his promotional posters


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The circus ow ner has invited the complainant t o come along to t he circus to see how

friendly the clown is

He added: 'We don't know where this lady lives and we didn't put the posters there deliberately.

'Thousands of people pass is over the week, it seems daft to take it down for one person.'

'She could possibly take another route or we could maybe put up a separate board without a clown on it.'

The circus performed its first show in the town on Thursday and will remain there until Sunday.It features a performance by Clumbsy the Clown.


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Owner Mr Lawson has described Leighton Buzzard Town Hall Council's decision as

'absolutely r idiculous'


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The circus came to Leighton Buzzard on Thursday and is due to leave on Sunday

Phobia expert and hypnotherapist Christine Black suggested the complainant and council may have gone

about addressing the issue in the wrong way.

'The council have merely accommodated her fear,' she said.

'The lady is trying to manage her fear by controlling her environment but she needs to control the irrationalfear.'

COULROPHOBIA: A FEAR MADE WORSE BY HOLLYWOOD FILMS

The Joker, from the Batman films, is believed to have made coulrophobia more prevalent

Scientists generally agree that coulrophobia is a result of not knowing who lies behind the makeup, red noseand hair of a clown.

According to Coulrophobia Facts, research has shown the fear of clowns has increased since the Steven

Spielberg's 1990s' film, 'It', which depicts a murderous clown.

The portrayal of the Joker in Batman films is also blamed.

According to the site, the phobia, which can cause panic, breathing difficulty and nausea, does preventsome people from eating at McDonalds.

Coulrophobia can affect both adults and children.

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Comments (156)

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X Tory voter,Newport, 20 minutes ago

How much lower can this country sink ??

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george72,poole, United Kingdom, 31 minutes ago

What a load of clowns! ! How can you pander to one person's so called phobia. Are we to be held to ransom, if town councils andother authorities, take up this ludicrous line of action. MacDonalds will have to close ( not a bad thing ) but i f the pursue everycitizens phobia chaos will ensue. Folk have an abject fear and horror of elected councillors and MPs will they be consigned tothe dustbin of history. Actually on the other hand we could have some real fun. If I lived in Leighton Buzzard I would think ofsomething really outrageous to complain about and if the council did not take heed of what I was asking for they would holdthemselves up for ridicule and charges of hypocrisy. So go for it good citizens of Leighton Buzzard.

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horseboi,Oxford, 33 minutes ago

Council operations officer; synonym for clown! Can't think what other purpose they might serve.

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Ingenieur,Bridport, United Kingdom, 46 minutes ago

Clowns bring much-needed joy and laughter. This idiot Council would do better to ban all the pranksters in scary Halloweenmasks, who set out deliberately to terrify law-abiding folk. But then, they'll never do that while local traders make money out of it.

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Marielle,Nearest of Paris, France, 1 hour ago

What a fool ! Clowns are the best part of a Circus Program. As a young child, my favourite clown was called Zapata (the best


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French clown of his generation) and I demanded my mother to follow his program and I was glued to the T.V set all along. Whenhe retired, I was heartbroken ! Vive les Clowns !

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horseboi,Oxford, 35 minutes ago

The council are clowns!

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Mr Death,Lego City, 2 hours ago

In scared of council tax.

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red cloud,oldham, 2 hours ago

I have a serious aversion to my taxes being wasted employing people l ike Lisa Jarvis, if I phone in to complain will they give herthe chop? of course not because that would be silly but one person in need of therapy complaining about a picture of a clown isconsidered serious enough to take action. I would further suggest that the person who complained does not visit LeightonBuzzard town hall as she may be faced with more clowns than she can handle.

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bewildered,lost in t ime, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

What are the council doing about all the spiders in Leighton Buzzard that scare the pants of hundreds? Pathetic. She should justkeep her eyes on the road as she drives past.

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wendypeg6,yeovil, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

can lisa jarvis be sacked for gross stupidity??

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Alex,Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 2 hours ago

She's a clown.

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Circus ordered to take down posters after ONE complaint from a woman who is scared of clowns _ Mail Online.pdf