Tom Pugh The owner of a sweet shop has said he plans to defy objectors and council officials who have tried to stop him displaying joke billboards.
John O'Sullivan, 34, who runs the Candy Box in Horsham, West Sussex, dreamed up the newspaper-style billboards featuring spoof headlines in an effort to make people smile during the recession.
One read: "Crawley Girl Gives Birth to Pitbull", while another stated: "MPs: What A Load Of ..."
Further signs have read: "Crawley Man Dies After Drinking Lava Lamp," and: "Horsham To Be Twinned with Botswana."
Mr O'Sullivan claimed he was visited by police and verbally threatened with prosecution if he failed to remove the tongue-in-cheek billboards. But Sussex Police say they have not threatened any action against him.
Mr O'Sullivan said yesterday: "I'm going to continue keeping them up. 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.
"If I can put a smile on people's chops by having these billboards, then so be it."
Mr O'Sullivan said the vast majority of people who have passed through his shop have seen the funny side.
"People love them and they want to see more," said Mr O'Sullivan, who has run the popular shop for the past two years.
But he admitted there had been a small number of objections to the signs.
A Horsham District Council spokesman said: "We can confirm that the council has received previous and recent complaints about what has been written on the A-board outside his shop.
"As a message posted there last week was considered to be potentially offensive, a street scene officer from the council asked for its removal."
A Sussex Police spokesman said: "We were aware that complaints had been made to Horsham District Council about the signage outside the Candy Box, and while passing on routine patrol last month, an officer did have a friendly conversation with the shop owner.
"At no point did we suggest that he could be arrested, although if there was a law about having a dodgy sense of humour, there might well be a case.
"Full marks to him for clever advertising though."
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