| His actions came to light after one of the people he demanded money from contacted the Tele to complain about what she thought was an official fee being charged by the organisers.
The woman explained she had gone to the ceremony with her two-year-old daughter and a friend and her son. They were stopped by the man in High Street just east of City Square. He was wearing a coloured jacket and they thought he was an official.
At first, the woman thought he was just there to help with crowd control, but he then asked for money. She said, “He was saying it was £5 for a family.”
The woman and her friend refused to pay and walked up Reform Street to watch from there. They also saw several other people speaking with the man. “I don’t know if anybody paid the £5. We all refused,” she said.
Another woman said she and her husband were shopping and went to see why a crowd had gathered. Her husband spoke to the man, who again said it would cost £5 to get into the square. The couple were not interested in the ceremony and left.
The event, featuring cartoon favourite Scooby Doo, was organised by the City of Discovery Campaign.
A campaign spokesman said, “We are concerned to learn someone may have been trying to charge people for entry to City Square for Sunday’s switch-on ceremony. Entry to the event was entirely free.” |
