Volunteers at a Highland Hospice shop in Wick created a tongue-in-cheek display featuring mannequins in council workwear — but officials demanded it be taken down and confiscated the uniforms.
A killjoy council ordered a charity shop plagued by road works and potholes to remove a hi-vis window installation. Volunteers at the Highland Hospice in Wick in Scotland set up the tongue-in-cheek display.
It featured four mannequins in council workwear with the window reading “get the new high street look”. The mannequins were wearing Highland Council workers’ uniforms and carrying brooms and shovels.
They had been donated to the shop which has also suffered a lack of business due to ongoing roadworks.
But shop manager Hannah Morrison says council employees have since demanded the display be taken down – despite not offering the uniforms for sale. The council even confiscated the outfits.
Hannah says the response from the council has been “frustrating” – as staff members are still waiting to have a large pothole near the shop filled in.
“We got donated Highland Council hi-vis workwear – we don’t know who donated them, but they came to our back door,” said Hannah.
“I just thought, because all these roadworks are ongoing, and it’s affected our footfall, that it would be quite funny if we put something in the window to make light of the situation.
“We put them in and wrote “get the new high street style” – they weren’t for sale and it was just a joke.
“There were so many people that loved it and thought it was great – it brightened up the street and every day people would be coming in and saying how good it was.”
But on Tuesday, while Hannah was away from the premises, a council employee demanded the display be taken down.
Meanwhile, roadworks in Wick have been taking place in the town centre since early November as part of the £2.1 million Wick street design project and are due to continue until the end of May.
She said: “On Tuesday, I was on a day off, and someone from the council had come in and said to take the window display out, as it had the Highland Council badge on all these uniforms.
“What just frustrated me a lot about it was that he never asked to speak to me, to discuss any matter or negotiate.
“He’d come in and told them to take it out, and he took the uniforms with him.
“If he would have spoken to me, I would have explained, obviously, that it was display only.
“I could have said we’ll cover up the badges, or he could have maybe offered a contribution – or filled in the pothole at the back that’s been asked to be filled in.”
Hannah described the response from the council as “frustrating,” and said they should be doing more to help Wick’s high street during “difficult times.”
A Highland Council representative told the John O’Groats Journal: “Displaying council hi-vis in the charity’s shop window suggests it is for sale. There was no indication it was for display purposes only.
“Hi-vis is issued to staff who require to wear this for their protection and safety, which the council takes seriously.
“Council hi-vis should not be used for personal purposes by council staff or members of the public.
“The council has a responsibility for the appropriate use of resources and, where staff no longer undertake activities which require hi-vis, the protective clothing should be returned and recycled where applicable to safeguard budgets.
“The council does not regard this to have been an overreaction. It was necessary to retrieve the hi-vis.
“Staff and managers are being reminded personal protective equipment should be returned when staff leave a role requiring this type of safety protection.”
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