Shop owner told to remove dummy dressed in army uniform

A shop owner is being forced to remove a mannequin dressed as a soldier from the front of his Bolton store — because of recent armed robberies in the area. Hamid Shahabi says the life-size figure is there to represent brave troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and to raise awareness of the Help the Heroes charity.

But a town hall officer has threatened him with enforcement action and a fine if he does not move the dummy, which is outside Arms and Outdoors in Halliwell Road, Halliwell. The council says staff from Lloyds TSB bank next door, who were recently subject to an armed raid, are suffering flashbacks when they see the dummy.

Mr Shahabi, aged 53, said: “It is insulting to the soldiers who are out there putting their lives on the line. It has nothing to do with armed robberies in the area — it is disgraceful. The soldier looks nothing like an armed robber. Children who walk past the shop love him. They stop and shake his hand and take pictures with him.”


Photo from here.

In a letter to Mr Shahabi, the council told him the dummy was causing a lot of “ill feeling” among local businesses. The council said it had to take these views into account, considering the large number of armed raids that had recently taken place in Halliwell.

Mr Shahabi’s shop sells outdoor clothing, camping equipment, fishing and hunting gear, as well as guns and ammunition. The owner says his store remains secure at all times and he only sells guns and ammunition to customers with the correct licence and paperwork.

A council spokesman said: “The officer has tried to respond sympathetically to a number of complaints received about the mannequin from a business and residents, following a recent armed raid on a local business. At no point within the letter was the officer suggesting that the mannequin would provoke people to carry out armed raids, nor was he in any way undermining the work of our British troops. The issue is that the mannequin is causing people to remember an upsetting incident they would rather forget.”