VOLUNTEERS in Prestwick have been left fuming after a Hallowe’en outdoors event was axed by the council the day before.

Organisers of a a trail walk set to take place on St Cuthbert’s golf course hit out at the council’s late move to shut their event down, leaving children gutted.

Cyvonne Bradley, 39, and other volunteers were given hundreds of donations, including decorations and sweets from local businesses.

But concerns were raised that 160 people were going to attend the anticipated event in a complaint sent to South Ayrshire Council.

Furious mum Cyvonne believes the number has been fabricated and had confirmed that 78 would attend on the night with “no expectation of more” attending.

Of the 78, 21 were under-12s who according to Scottish Government guidance are not be included in the headcount of an outdoor “gathering”.

Cyvonne, 39, revealed: “Everything was ready to go, I was working on Friday afternoon when I got a call from an environmental health officer telling me they had received a complaint about the event.

“He said I would require an entertainment licence and risk assessments. He then said that police are going to come on the night if we go ahead with the event, which really put me off as we didn’t want to scare the kids.”

Cyvonne claims that the officer said the walk could end up on “Sky News” and that children are “super spreaders of the virus” putting others at risk.

The walk would have saw parents or carers walk with their children in bubbles (households) through the trail. Each bubble was to be given time slots to go round, with track and trace in place and hand sanitiser on entry and exit.

Cyvonne added: “We took every step to make sure everything was COVID-19 safe, we followed section 11 of the coronavirus regulations – the last thing we wanted to do was add to the spread of the virus.

A response from environmental health shown to the Advertiser claims there was “no risk assessment” in place, and that the event would be “illegal” if it was to go ahead.

But organisers have hit out at least seven other outdoor events which went ahead across Ayrshire.

Cyvonne added: “Our walk was wrongly cancelled, all in the hands of a vindictive person, then a council who instead of working alongside us, decided on a Friday afternoon to cancel it, leaving us with an upset community and crying children.”

South Ayrshire Council said they had received a complaint from a concerned member of the public.

A spokesperson said: “The matter was investigated by Environmental Health. After discussions with Police Scotland, the organiser was advised by Environmental Health that the event could not legally take place.”