THE
NEWS...IN THE... PATRIOTIC SCARBOROUGH CABBIE
TOLD BY COUNCIL TO REMOVE ENGLAND FLAGS
A patriotic taxi driver was banned from fly- ing the England flag from his cab during the Euros ... because council officials say it could cause “offence”. Cabbie Andrew Jenk- inson decked out his taxi in red and white to support England dur- ing the Euro 2012 championships as he drove around the York- shire seaside resort of Scarborough. But
the 62-year-old
grandad was left stunned when council bosses ordered him to remove the flags because putting them on his car was not a “safe practice”. And when he com- plained they told him that it might lead to other cabbies display- ing flags of other
nations, which could potentially
cause
offence. Ironically Andrew is a Conservative council- lor for the selfsame Scarborough Borough Council. The fuming cabbie blasted the rul- ing a “ridiculous and pathetic” and said he would defy the ban and keep flying the flags. Andrew originally dec- orated his private hire vehicle with flags dur- ing the Queen’s Jubilee last month and then decided to leave them in place for the Euro Championships. But
the problems
arose after Andrew was warned at a coun- cil meeting by a colleague that he could be breaking reg- ulations. He spoke to a council official who
said they would check if it was illegal. Now he has received a warning letter telling him: “On June 11 you asked me if you were illegally flying these flags. I replied that I did not know but I would consult my manager. “Your response was that you were not going to take it off any- way, as they [the flags] represented the coun- try. This incident was communicated to the licensing manager. As with all aspects of Taxi and Private Hire Licensing, the primary concern is the safety of the travelling public and it was considered that this was not safe practice. “I trust that you will comply by removing
any flags from your private hire vehicle.” Another senior official later said it could lead to trouble or offence if other cabbies put up other nation’s flags. But Andrew told the Sun: “This is a cele- bration of my country. “I’m disgusted by this ban. It’s pathetic. They seem to be suggesting that it’s a health and safety danger having flags on your car win- dow - how ridiculous is that. “Are they really sug- gesting
that in
England I’m not allowed to fly an Eng- land flag because it might offend some- one? I’ve had plenty of people supporting me in this fight and I’m not going to back down.” He said that he had
suggested a compro- mise to allow flying flags on certain days such as when England are playing, but the council officials have refused to budge. And he has received an email from local MP Robert Goodwill say- ing: “I cannot believe that they are being so petty.” Andy Skelton, head of environmental servic- es for the council, said they were not being unpatriotic. He added: “As a coun- cil we are very much in favour of our residents showing their patriot- ism. But if we allow flags of our own nationality to be flown then we would quickly get to a situation where drivers might
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PAGE 37
flags of other nations or show political affilia- tions and allegiances and this is something that may cause offence to some people.” Mmmm… Here we go again with the flag-fly- ing frenzy… we couldn’t have a Euro or World Cup without this crop- ping up somewhere. What we’re trying to get our heads round is: how can the display of an England flag be “not a safe practice”?! Could it possibly flap in the wind and catch someone’s eye? As for it causing offence, surely every other country in the entire world should now forbid the display of their national flag within their country bound- aries in case it offends someone. Oh, come on!!! - Ed
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