Circus ordered to take down posters after ONE complaint 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 drive past posters

She told Leighton Buzzard Town Hall Council she has coulrophobia

Council tells circus not to come back with clown promotional posters



Ringmaster John Lawson describes decision as 'absolutely ridiculous'

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



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



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

A council has taken down posters 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 uses promotional material without clowns on it.



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



'The circus is on the park which is our responsibility and we are responsible to our residents, so something like 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 circus is 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 friendly clown is nothing to be scared of.'

John Lawson (right), owner of the circus, may not be allowed back to Leighton Buzzard if he doesn't remove clowns from his promotional posters

The circus owner has invited the complainant to come along to the 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.

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

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 irrational fear.'