‘We want to wipe that slate clean and help get some positive vibes in there’
Oakwood Charity Shop, where a woman exposed herself and urinated on the floor(Image: Submitted)
A charity has issued a plea for positivity after a woman ‘urinated on the floor’ of their shop after being told she could not have items for free. Police enquiries are ongoing after the reported incident at Oakwood Dog Rescue’s charity shop on King Edward Street in Hull on Tuesday.
Staff are now calling for a positive response from the public, who are invited to pop into the shop to show the volunteers some positivity and support. Leanne Bottomley, kennel supervisor and fundraiser for Oakwood Dog Rescue, said: “We had a person come in on Tuesday at about 3.45pm who was demanding items for free.
“When the staff member said ‘no, we need you to pay for those items’, the person urinated all over the floor. So what we want people to do is come past, say hello, spread a bit of positivity and support the staff.”
Humberside Police confirmed they received a report of criminal damage on Tuesday involving a woman urinating inside a business premises on King Edward Street in Hull. The force said enquiries are ongoing and have appealed for information or footage of the incident.
Leanne said: “We have CCTV which shows what happened which will be sending that to the police. It’s really upsetting that it’s a charity and we sell things for next to nothing just to raise money for the dogs. We already had some bad experiences.
“We thought we were going to lose it, then we got it back. We sell things so cheap just to encourage people to come in. That’s one thing we’d like to come off the back of this, we want to water down this bad experience and create some positivity.”
Leanne is calling for locals to pop into the shop and brighten the workers’ days. “We want to wipe that slate clean and help get some positive vibes in there. We want people to go in and make them smile and be kind and brighten their day. Everyone has been very supportive and we can’t thank them enough for it.
“We want our staff to feel safe again in their workspace. We get shop lifting all the time, we can’t stop it. It would be dangerous to ask staff to stop the shop lifting. It’s quite sad that someone would steal from a charity, it’s quite upsetting. I assume everyone loves dogs and everyone wants to help.”
She said the charity is working with Hull BID to help combat the shoplifting and antisocial behaviour, and that the response from security staff and Humberside Police has been “brilliant”.
The shop is open from Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4.30pm, and on Sundays from 11am to 3pm. Leanne says the prices are kept low – with many items costing £1 or less – to try to raise as much money as possible for the dogs. The charity owns kennels at Sutton Fields Industrial Estate in Hull and proceeds from the shop go towards keeping the charity going.
A Humberside Police spokesperson said: “Enquiries are ongoing after we received a report of criminal damage involving a woman urinating inside a business premises on King Edward Street in Hull before 4pm on Tuesday, 7 July 2026. We would encourage anyone who has any relevant information or footage from around the area at the time to contact our non-emergency number 101 quoting log 374 of 7 July 2026.”
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