Residents of Rayne’s Park woke in the morning to discover their pumpkins had been taken from their front doors and porches on the day of Halloween.
Residents in the Apostle roads area near the high street believe their pumpkins were taken by bin men on the weekly collection round.
Paul Kohler, Merton resident and Lib Dem councillor for Wimbledon Town and Dundonald Ward told the local democracy reporting service (LDRS): “Parents have been complaining about them taking the pumpkins off someone’s doorstep and front wall.
“It’s just the lack of thought of course that sums up Merton council. It’s a case of them not getting the right instructions and not using a bit of imagination. This happened on Halloween of all days.”
Hina Bokhari, local resident and member of the London Assembly stated on X: “Not really in the “spirit” of Halloween to have pumpkins taken from doorsteps with bin collections but that’s what seems to be happening. Lots of angry parents in Merton having to buy replacements and kids won’t be too happy either.”
Veolia provides the waste management services for Merton council and are thus responsible for the weekly collections in Raynes Park.
The news first broke on the area’s Whatsapp group, as a number of frustrated parents complained that their children were disappointed after spending so much time carving them the previous evening.
Jessica Sutherland of Sydney Road said: “About 20 different people in the Apostle roads area have had their pumpkins taken, but those are only the people I’ve spoken to and are on the Whatsapp group.
“I’m sure there are many more and looking around I can’t actually see that many pumpkins left.
“My five-year old, Georgie, was very upset about it this morning. We carved a couple of pumpkins together.
“There were loads of pumpkins out and loads of people have had them taken. It just feels very wrong to do that to kids on Halloween.
“I thought we were always quite friendly with the guys that collected the bins. My youngest used to love watching the big truck come in and all the machinery that goes with it.
“We always come out and say good morning to them, obviously not this morning though because we missed it. This is the first time we have had a problem with it to be honest.”
Jessica and other residents believe Veolia workers may have overreached in their duties.
Jessica, in particular, was shocked about how someone wouldn’t know that Halloween lands on October 31. She said: “I think the sad thing is that it was quite deliberate.
“It’s not like any of the pumpkins were in the bin, they were all displayed at the front of the houses or on the porch. Ours were placed on our bin store which is set behind the road, so they must have leaned in to get them.
“If you weren’t sure on the date, wouldn’t you ask your colleague if Halloween had passed.”
However, Jessica and Georgia were over-prepared for the festivities and told the LDRS that they will not let this dampen their spirit. She said: “Luckily we did go a little over the top with our decorations so I think we’ll stick to what we’ve got at the moment.”
When approached for comment a Veolia spokesperson said: “We regret that a member of our food waste collection crew incorrectly removed pumpkins from households.
“The operative has been informed of his mistake and briefed to ensure this does not happen again. We pride ourselves on working with the community in Merton and would like to apologise for this incident.”
A Merton council spokesperson said: “We’re very sorry to hear about this and hope this mistake by one of our contractor’s operatives did not spoil Halloween for any of our residents.
“Veolia has assured us they have dealt with the matter to ensure this does not happen again.”
