A resident of Smalltown yesterday accused former Councillor Ellen Proves of ‘incorrectly illegally and illicitly impounding a supermarket trolley for her own private purposes.’. Taking to a public discussion forum and with the user name ‘Sir Ghoulies’ the resident remained hidden behind their computer screen to make the allegations.
Proves, leader of the Dulltown Liberation Front, immediately hit back telling the resident “The trolley is there will the full knowledge of the supermarket concerned and is used to help me transport food – which would otherwise be thrown away – to those in need in the parishes of Smalltown and Dullbridge.“
Sir Ghoulies replied to further accuse Proves of holding the trolley hostage and not allowing it to move from its position in her garden. “I’ve spent time hiding in bushes opposite your house and that trolley hasn’t been allowed to move for weeks. It’s cruel, keeping it out there in the open in all kinds of weather.”
“Besides, I do charity work myself but choose to keep it quiet and not bring it to the attention of the public, by posing for photos with trolleys.” As it was Sir Ghoulies who had brought the matter up and there are no photographs of Proves with supermarket trolleys, this appeared to be a rather ill-thought out comment.
However, Proves went on to say “If Squire Teflon has nothing better to do than watch the comings and goings of supermarket trolleys then I could always use his help pushing one around the town. Perhaps this would be a better use of his time.”
The attack failed to achieve the objective of portraying Proves as an evil genius intent on trapping and abusing vulnerable supermarket trolleys, but instead led to several other residents offering to help with food distribution.
Proves later told SomersetClive “It just goes to show that the majority of Smalltown and Dullbridge residents are kind-hearted people who always go that extra mile to help their fellow residents.”