A fundraising page for a campaign to make London independent has been taken down after the organiser admitted he was "in over his head".
James O’Malley’s "Londependence" petition was signed by more than 150,000 people and called on Mayor of London Sadiq Khan to declare London independent from the UK so the capital can stay in the EU.
After originally starting the petition as a tongue-in-cheek way of expressing his frustration at the prospect of Brexit, Mr O’Malley appealed for funds to get the campaign off the ground.
He wrote: “The people have spoken. In less than 48 hours 156,000 people have said they want London to declare independence.
“Now we need to figure out what to do next.”
But after raising more than £3,000 in less than a day, the Londoner has decided to take the petition down after admitting he was "in over his head".
He told the Standard: "Having discussed it with my friends and colleagues, I've realised I'm in over my head.
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"I'm still optimistic about the response to the petition - but I intend to seek further advice before taking any next steps."
The freelance writer's petition received negative feedback on the funding site.
Commenting on the GoFundMe page, Sophie Maltzan wrote: "Nice, but what are you going to do with the money?
"Fascinating how much money you got in 14 hours without declaring what you are going to do with it."
But Mr O'Malley confirmed everyone would be getting their money back.
