Floral tributes left for a much-loved lollipop man and dad have been removed on two separate occasions, leaving his family heartbroken.
Dave York's legacy
Dave York, 76, died suddenly on Tuesday, July 14. The husband, father of two and grandfather of six was known for helping hundreds of children walking to and from Mount Primary School in New Brighton. He had spent his life helping others, working as a handyman before becoming a lollipop man seven years ago.
His daughter-in-law Kerry York, 41, from Wallasey, told the ECHO: “Before he was a lollipop man, we used to call him the handyman because he could plaster, he could brick lay, he was a painter and decorator. He’s done quite a lot in his life and helped a lot of people out. He was like that with loads of people. He just cared about everybody.”
Tributes removed
Since Dave’s death, members of the school community have been leaving floral tributes by the lamppost where he stood. However, the family were heartbroken when people removed the flowers on two occasions.
Kerry said: “Parents and children from the school have been leaving flowers and cards which is so lovely. But on Saturday me and my husband noticed that they had been taken.”
CCTV footage appears to show a woman driving up and down the road before parking near the scene, getting out, and removing the floral tributes. Kerry said: “You can see on the footage that she just shakes the water off the flowers and walks down the road with them. It’s shocking. Why would somebody want to do that? It was in broad daylight as well. It’s just very weird. I just don’t get it. What would they get out doing that?”
Since the initial incident, a second removal took place involving a man. Kerry said: “My 13-year-old son was staying at his grandma’s house which is on the same road and he said to me before he went, ‘I’m just going to walk up and have a look at grandad’s flowers’, as he was walking up the hill he saw a man get out of the car. His reaction was shouting up the road, ‘Oi that’s my grandad’s flowers put them back’, but they grabbed them and got in the car and drove off. All we know is that it was a white Ford.”
Kerry added: “It’s incredibly upsetting and difficult to understand why anyone would do something so heartless.”
