An army veteran has won his appeal to display the Union Flag on his taxi after Shropshire Council banned it last year.
Basil Brockhurst, from Market Drayton, served in the armed forces from 1975 to 2014, but when he tried to display the Union Flag on the bonnet of his taxi, Shropshire Council forced him to remove it.
Speaking to GB News, Brockhurst said: "On 17th October they sent me an email saying I had to remove the cross of St George and the Union Flag from my vehicle.
“Obviously I was not happy, I was quite perturbed. 30 years’ service for Queen and country in Northern Ireland and Iraq and suddenly I’m told I cannot display the cross of St George and the Union Jack.”
Basil Brockhurst was told by Shropshire Council to remove the Union Flag
GB NEWS
The ban on flags was found in the updated ‘Hackney Carriage and Private Hire vehicles licensing policy’ agreed to by Shropshire Council in April 2023.
It states there cannot be an advertisement which “depicts any political, racial, cultural, sexual or potentially offensive language, symbols, flags or emblems.”
Brockhurst immediately appealed against the ruling, and after help from his local MP, Helen Morgan, and the Deputy Leader at Shropshire Council, Ian Nellins, a vote to revise the regulations was passed by the ‘Strategic Licensing Committee’ on 11th January allowing one Union Flag on a vehicle’s bonnet, no bigger than an A4 piece of paper.
However, the ban wasn’t lifted without opposition. Green Party Councillor for Oswestry West, Mike Isherwood, called the move “divisive”.
Basil Brockhurst wants to go one step further and display a poppy with his ex-regimental crest to honour his fallen comrades
GB NEWS
Speaking in the committee meeting, he said: “It’s needlessly divisive to introduce flags to taxis, especially if its only privileging one nation’s flag.
“I find it unfair, discriminatory and I’m surprised it would even be legal to do this. We should have a neutral policy on this and that is best achieved with the current policy.”
Brockhurst served in the Light Infantry from 1975 to 1993 before joining the Territorial Army in 1994, completing three tours of Northern Ireland and serving in Iraq.
Now he wants to go one step further and display a poppy with his ex-regimental crest to honour his fallen comrades.
He has been told he will need the permission of the Royal British Legion and the Ministry of Defence before Shropshire Council will consider an application.
Brockhurst said: “Now I feel as though I’m still being penalised, and I’m being told what I can and can’t have on a private vehicle.”