Hardworking staff at one of Lancashire's most popular ‘pick your own’ pumpkin patches were 'spat at, verbally abused, and squared up to' this weekend by angry customers.

It was forced to close due to people parking dangerously on the busy A5147 between Maghull and Scarisbrick; these were the scenes late yesterday afternoon at Pumpkin Alley, off Delf Lane, Downholland forced to close on Sunday afternoon after the car park became full and visitors 'ignored attendants' and left their vehicles on the busy A road.

Staff at the facility thought it was too dangerous for pedestrians, especially children, so called it a day and shut down the patch.

This lead to an angry response from some visitors with some staff being verbally abused.

A FB statement from Pumpkin Alley on Sunday read: “We are saddened by the abuse that our staff faced.

"We have been spat at, verbally abused, and squared up to.

“We closed the patch because people were ignoring our car park attendants' instructions and parking dangerously along a bendy, main road, not only endangering themselves and their children, but other road users.

"Our second patch also faced similar problems. We understand children are disappointed when they can’t pick pumpkins, and our aim is not to disappoint them.

“We do however aim to keep your children safe, and if that means closing our patch and losing money then that's what has to happen.

"Safety before profits, always.

“We know some people still pulled up and tried to come on, but closed signs were up and people were told.

“Don’t worry about what other people do, if you did the right thing and left when asked then we appreciate that very much.”

I have full sympathy with the staff involved here who have been abused, but the people running this operation surely must have expected that this could happen if the on-site car park (which appears to have turned into a mud-bath anyway) has limited capacity.

To put the blame squarely on people turning up from miles away and parking nearby (albeit dangerously) when they can't get in the car park doesn't sit right with me.

Their parking attendants don't have the powers to stop people parking in this way, and with the entrance / exit being on a busy main road with stretches where overtaking isn't allowed, they should instead have had a booking system or something in place to stop this situation occurring.

I just hope the authorities (Council and Police) do something about this, as it's an accident waiting to happen.