The Harrow Town Centre management has been left outraged after specially made VE Day roundels – commemorating 80 years since the end of World War II in Europe – were ripped down and reportedly used as frisbees or taken home.
The roundels had been installed around the town centre by Harrow BID to mark the important anniversary and honour those who served and sacrificed during the war. But within days of being put up, a number of them had already been vandalised or stolen.
A spokesperson for Harrow Town Centre (Harrow BID) posted via Facebook, “We are disappointed to see that some of the VE Day roundels to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day have been deliberately removed and used as frisbees or taken home.
“This is not OK, it is extremely disrespectful and we will be requesting CCTV images and will be working with both Harrow Council and Harrow Police to find the culprits.
“If you see anyone tampering with these roundels please let us know.”
The incident has sparked anger from residents online, with several taking to Facebook to express their frustration.
One member of the Harrow Online Group on Facebook wrote, “Absolutely disgusting behaviour of these school kids ripping down the VE Day signs that Harrow Town Centre have worked so hard on putting up and displaying in remembrance of what our soldiers died for, ironically so that we all have our freedom and a right to live within the UK, without them some of us wouldn’t even be here! Fix up!!”
In an update posted later this afternoon, Harrow Council CCTV controllers now have video footage of the culprit on 3rd May. The Harrow BID team will be working with the Council, police and local schools to identify this child and will be reinstalling more roundels in time VE Day on Thursday.
Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
He launched Harrow Online in 2010 as a Facebook page sharing local news and information. Since then, it has grown into a trusted source for breaking news, crime, council decisions, planning, transport, business and community stories across the borough.
Harrow Online reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month and has a social media audience of more than 200,000 followers.
For news tips, press releases or enquiries, contact Chris at info@harrowonline.org.
