A GORILLA mascot used to promote bingo events had a brush with the police after ‘impersonating’ an officer.

Nigella the Gorilla burst onto the Barrow scene last January when a member of the public contacted police, fearing that a gorilla was on the loose in the town.

The mobility-scooter-riding ape has brushed shoulders with the likes of Judge Rinder, appearing on his hit ITV show last year.

And this time the gorilla returned to the streets of Barrow once again to promote a Rave Bingo night taking place tomorrow.

Nigella rode through the streets in to publicise Who’s Bingo’s Rave Bingo night taking place at Cloud Nine.

To catch bypassers’ attention, the gorilla was using sirens which mimicked the noise of emergency vehicles.

However, according to Adam Robinson, the boss of Who’s Bingo, a member of public reported Nigella to the police concerned that the mobility scooter sirens meant she was ‘impersonating an officer’. This led to officers speaking to the ape outside Tesco in Hindpool Road.

Mr Robinson said: “We had sirens on Nigella’s mobility scooter and a person reported her to the police saying that she was impersonating a police officer.

“That’s why she was stopped by officers and told not to use the siren.

“We were told if she was to have her siren on again her mobility scooter would be confiscated.”

Mr Robinson insisted that the gorilla mascot is a ‘fun’ and ‘harmless’ way to perk people’s interest in upcoming bingo events.

“It’s just a fun way to get people interested in the bingo event,” he said.

“We use Nigella to promote our events – sometimes she’s a nun or on a mobility scooter.

“It gets people talking and laughing. Life’s too short to take offence to a gorilla on a mobility scooter.”

A police spokesman said: “Police were made aware of an individual driving a mobility scooter emitting a fake emergency services siren in Barrow town centre on Wednesday afternoon.

“Concerns were raised the siren was distracting drivers and vehicles were pulling over upon hearing the siren, believing it to belong to the emergency services.

“The individual was given words of advice.”

To buy tickets for tomorrow event, visit: https://fixr.co/event/281792182.