Angry nursery owners took to Twitter to vent their frustration at the unauthorised white vans turning up unannounced, jumping out with a stencil in tow and spray painting an open-mouthed crocodile with the message, ‘Don’t get too close – adults keep two metres apart’.
The stencils have been appearing in nursery car parks
Lorna McKeown, head of centre at a private nursery in North Lanarkshire, told Nursery World that she contacted her local council to ask if it was an initiative run by them but they said, ‘no’. She has since heard rumours that it might be a Scottish Government initiative.
She said ‘On Monday (1 March), a white hire van turned up in the carpark, a man jumped out and spray painted this image on our private property. He then drove off. We received no notification and no permission was sought.
‘We would love to know who authorised this. It’s wrong on so many levels, but not least the fact that crocodiles are not warm and welcoming animals – hardly the ideal visual for a children’s nursery. It’s neither wanted nor appropriate and it needs to go.’
Nursery World contacted Scottish Government, who confirmed that the ‘temporary’ stencils, which have appeared in nurseries across Scotland, are part of a coronavirus safety campaign.
A spokesperson said, ‘These temporary stencils are part of a wide campaign to highlight the safety measures that we are taking. They were placed on pavements outside some of the nurseries and schools with the highest footfall, to support the safe return to schools and nurseries.
‘We know that early learning and childcare settings are doing a brilliant job to follow the guidance within the settings, and this is part of a wider package designed to support them with that.’
Jim Agnew who co-owns two nurseries in North Lanarkshire and is one of the leaders of 2020 Together We Can (2020twc), a group representing PVI providers in Scotland, said that members had been in touch about the crocodile signage.
He said, ‘They have expressed their anger about the van turning up without permission which has caused problems for some nurseries who rent their properties. One had to get it removed because the marking was placed at the entrance to a business park, where the nursery was housed.
'Another nursery owner told me, “This crocodile contract will likely to have been tendered for and I’d like to know the cost as it’s a total waste of taxpayers' money. All of us have had incomes slashed with restrictions and outbreaks denied access to grants or full furlough but they can waste money badly vandalising our properties.'