Florist told to remove display model of Alice in Wonderland's caterpillar after council said she was breaking anti-smoking laws

The caterpillar is perched on a toadstool in the shop with an unlit pipe

The Blackburn officer suspected that the florist was running a 'shisha den'

The Disney character blows smoky letters at Alice in the 1951 animation

Owner Debbie Schofield described the officer's visit as 'surreal'



An environmental health officer stunned a florist by claiming her display model of Alice in Wonderland’s caterpillar was breaking anti-smoking laws.

Debbie Schofield, 32, had put the wooden model of the hookah puffing character from the 1951 Disney movie in her front window to attract customers.

But instead she got an unexpected visit from a council officer who noticed the model, which was sat on a wooden toadstool, was in possession of a real shisha pipe and looked as if it was smoking.



Not amused: Debbie Schofield outside her flower shop, which a council officer suspected might be a shisha den as it has a wooden caterpillar holding a pipe in the window In the iconic cartoon movie the caterpillar blew smoke rings in the shape of letters and was famed for its phrase ‘Whooo… are… you?’ The council officer warned Ms Scholfield that the wooden caterpillar might be in breach of laws preventing employees from smoking in the workplace and said he should investigate further. He also claimed the presence of a shisha pipe led him to believe Ms Schofield might be running an illegal shisha pipe ‘smoking den.’ RELATED ARTICLES Previous

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Next Council workman painted double yellow lines between parked... I've gone (tea) potty! Tea shop owner collects 1,000 in... Share this article Share Ms Schofield said she refused to let the officer investigate further, and instead put a flea in his ear - telling him to leave the shop, Ewood Florists in Bolton Street, Blackburn, Lancashire.

On Friday Ms Schofield said: ‘I couldn’t believe what this man was saying. It was so surreal I thought I was in Wonderland myself at the Mad Hatter's tea party.

‘He told me he’d come in to investigate because there had been a complaint that the shisha pipe was contravening UK smoking in the workplace regulations. ‘I said, "But it’s a wooden caterpillar," and he said "yes, but it’s smoking", and I said "no, it’s not". Classic character: The caterpillar featured in Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland animation and sits on a wooden toadstool in Ms Schofield's shop window Creative: Ms Schofield said that she considered giving the caterpillar an electronic cigarette to appease the council

‘I really thought someone was winding me up, I wasn’t taking it seriously. ‘It’s not even a real shisha pipe, it’s an ornament, it doesn’t work. ‘But he didn’t have a problem with the shisha pipe, it was the caterpillar smoking on business premises.

‘I said to him, even if it was a real caterpillar the chances of it lighting the pipe were pretty thin, but the fact that it’s a wooden caterpillar renders it impossible.’



‘I wouldn’t let him investigate, I said to him "if you haven’t got better things to do, I certainly have, you need to leave".

‘He said there was a real problem in Blackburn with shisha. I don’t know if that’s with caterpillars smoking it.

‘I did think about getting the caterpillar an electronic cigarette, or putting him on patches or something!’



The enigmatic caterpillar which was voiced by actor Richard Hayden in the Disney movie was part of a display which features several characters from the Lewis Carroll books Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Its memorable phrase is a breathy ‘Whooo… are… you?’ was visualised as exhalations of smoke in the shapes ‘O’, ‘R’ and ‘U’.

Enigmatic: The caterpillar blows smokey letters at Alice in the Disney film, before transforming into a butterfly

Alice remarks in the original story that the Caterpillar will one day turn into a butterfly and in the Disney film he does just that - albeit while angry from Alice’s comment about being only three inches high.

The caterpillar was played by actor Alan Rickman in Tim Burton’s flamboyant 2010 remake.

Labour run Blackburn Council said the officer had wanted to check that the florist was not operating as an illegal shisha ‘den.’



Councillor Jim Smith, executive member for environment, said: ‘The council public protection officer involved in this case was walking past the florist, saw the display and went in to make sure it was not operating a shisha lounge, which can be hard to detect.