Peeks will pull clown costumes if things get out of hand

But Peeks  said it was monitoring the situation and would pull the stock from sale if things got out of hand.

The craze involves pranksters dressing as the circus performers with the object of scaring people in the street.

It has apparently come over from the US and there have reports of incidents right across the country – including several in Bournemouth.

Some incidents have crossed the line between pranking and law-breaking and at least one arrest has been made.

Peeks, based in Christchurch, Dorset, stocks the costumes as part of its fancy dress range and has seen sales spike.

Nick Peek, managing director, said: “Sales of clown costumes have gone up in the past few weeks.

“At first we thought it was early Halloween sales, but then we realised that there was a new trend.

“We are monitoring the situation and if it gets out of hand we’ll pull the costumes from sale until things calm down.”