Annual Halloween display at London train station could come to an end after complaint
An annual tradition of erecting an array of life-size Halloween decorations and figurines outside a train station in London to raise funds for charity could potentially come to an end after a complaint was made and police were called.
For several years, a railway booking officer at Shortlands station for Southeastern train operating company in Bromley, south London, has made Halloween decorations for a display outside a local railroad station. But after receiving complaints that her displays are "un-Christian," the 63-year-old Denise Janes has announced she will not make any more displays in the future.
Throughout the years, Janes has fundraised over $450,000 (£400,000) for charity as part of her vibrant and elaborate displays, The Daily Mail reports.
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"I'm the unsung hero for Shortlands, I'm the unsung hero for Bromley, I'm a national customer service champion, everything I do is for the community," Janes said in a statement shared by media outlets.
"I help the homeless, I've raised £400,000 for charity, and we're only a small station. I've said I'm standing down because of complaints. I'm not going to do the displays anymore."
Janes' decorations differ each year and typically consist of various imaginative Halloween decor. She makes them all by hand and pays the costs out of her pocket.
For Halloween this year, one decoration included a fake body being run over by a car driven by a skeleton. Part of the display was taped off and had a police blockade.
Janes also requested that local British Transport Police officers have a car parked near the display to enhance the visuals for passersby by making it appear as though the police were investigating the scene.
Janes decorated one corner of the booking hall with creepy figurines, including the Grim Reaper overlooking a coffin and a skeleton adorning a Southeastern work uniform.
The 2022 display also consisted of decapitated heads, clowns and dolls.
This year's displays aimed to raise funds for Demelza Hospice Care for Children in South London.
Janes said a local woman had issued multiple complaints over the years about her displays. This year, the woman complained to the Southeastern railway and made a phone call to the police stating that the Halloween displays were offensive to the religious, according to The Telegraph.
Janes says she is hurt by the complaints.
A spokesperson for Southeastern told The Telegraph the company supports the displays and assured that the "customers and the wider community love them."
Janes has been involved in various fundraisers in her community over the years.
Halloween festivities and parties have taken place at the station booking hall for local children, where Janes would provide treats with a motorized skeleton that would pop out to grab children as they took the goodies.
Janes' spearheaded a Halloween event in 2020 at the station, which incorporated a children's disco, sweets, cakes and a bouncy castle. For the event, she requested that passengers donate to charity.
Although a complaint was allegedly lodged with police, a spokesman for the British Transport Police said, "it would be unlikely any complaint would be logged as an offense."
Janes said her artwork takes time to create and decorate the station.
"I'm very community engaged. I put a car out the front of the station. I put a body underneath. I put a skeleton driving the car. I cordoned it off with police tape, and then we have transport police. So I got them to park their van outside," Janes said. "I put it all out there, and she phoned up, and she called the police on us, and then she called the company."
Halloween time isn't the only season that the same local woman has reported Janes' displays.
"I did the Grinch at Christmas, and she said that the Grinch wasn't religious," Janes noted.
