Guessing most of the councillors and officials are still on holiday.
Swale council U-turns on taxi poppy ban after backlash over ‘Lest We Forget’ stickershttps://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbou ... il-344589/
A council has U-turned on a controversial decision which stopped taxi drivers displaying poppies and “Lest We Forget” stickers on their vehicles.
Swale council has unanimously agreed to temporarily change its licensing policy after iCars boss Neil McLennan was ordered to remove the remembrance emblems from his fleet.
The decision sparked a major backlash, with licensing officers and councillors subjected to abuse and threats, prompting the authority to call an urgent meeting on Tuesday afternoon (September 1).
Cllr Simon Clark (Lab), chairman of the licensing committee, said: “I’ve been quite traumatised over the last week with the amount of the keyboard warriors posting abuse towards our licensing officers and towards myself as Chair of the Licensing Committee.
“I actually turned my phone off on Friday night and I didn’t turn it back on until this morning because I was fed up with reading all the abuse that was coming over on social media and email.”
The row began after a licensing officer contacted Mr McLennan following a single complaint about one of his wheelchair-accessible taxis.
The 55-year-old, whose company operates in Sittingbourne and Sheppey, was told the poppies and “Lest We Forget” stickers were not permitted under the council’s rules on advertising and signs.
Swale council had originally planned to review the issue in October, but brought the matter forward amid concerns about the safety and welfare of staff and councillors.
At the urgent meeting, members unanimously backed a temporary amendment allowing remembrance displays on licensed vehicles.
Introducing the report, a council officer stressed no employee had ever been against poppies or remembrance displays and said the issue concerned how the existing Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Licensing Policy 2025 to 2030 had been applied.
The rules restrict advertising and other signs on licensed taxis and had been interpreted as preventing material not directly related to the operator or vehicle.
The temporary change means approved remembrance displays, including Royal British Legion poppies and other recognised Armed Forces commemorative symbols, will not be treated as third-party advertising.
They must be non-commercial, must not obscure required vehicle signage or visibility and must be appropriately maintained.
Cllr Dolley Wooster (Lab) welcomed the review and said policies should not be “a dusty document that sits on a shelf somewhere” but should be tested to make sure they work.
She also questioned limiting the exemption to particular versions of the symbol.
She said: “The poppy doesn’t solely sit with the British Legion.
“If people want to display a poppy, it doesn’t have to be the Royal British Legion poppy.
“That is their absolute right, and that is how they show that they are supportive of Remembrance.”
Cllr James Hunt (Con) raised concerns about creating an exemption for one particular cause when other charitable displays could face the same problem.
He said: “For instance, Red Nose Day. People put red noses on their cars.
“Is that something that’s going to then come up to, well, that’s not mentioned in the policy, so they can’t have that?
“It needs to be looked at really clearly on exactly what needs to go into these changes and make sure that there is something overall that can be done and not just single out that this one particular thing can be allowed.”
Cllr Clark, who has supported Armed Forces Veterans Breakfast Clubs in Sittingbourne and on Sheppey, also said he did not believe remembrance material should be displayed throughout the year.
He said: “I don’t hold with having poppies, or Lest We Forget, or any other form of remembrance stickers or paraphernalia being displayed 24/7, 365.
“I appreciate some people might feel differently, but my view is that it should be just for that set period.”
He said this should run from the launch of the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal until Armistice Day.
Cllr Hannah Perkin (Lib Dem) said: “Nobody should come to work and feel frightened by members of the public.”
She described remembrance as “a deeply personal and private thing” before criticising some of the reaction to the controversy.
Cllr Perkin added: “What I’ve seen over the last week has been, in lots of ways, an attempt to use commemoration as a competitive tool for public shaming and as a display of being more patriotic than others.
“I think that kind of use of commemoration and the poppy, and indeed any other commemorative paraphernalia, misses the entire point of the symbols that are being used.
“I’ve been really horrified by some of the rhetoric that has happened over the last week, and I think there are certain people who need to give their heads a bit of a wobble.”
Cllr Christine Palmer (Reform), who was a member of the committee which approved the revised licensing policy in July last year, said she would not have supported the provision had its implications for remembrance material been clear.
She said: “In my view, advertising refers to material that promotes a commercial business, product or service for profit.
“I do not consider charitable, commemorative or remembrance materials, such as the Royal British Legion emblem, poppies or wording such as ‘Lest We Forget’, to fall within that definition.
“Had that been on there, I would not have supported the provision for that to be included in the policy.”
Cllr Peter MacDonald (Reform), an Armed Forces veteran who looks after around 260 war and Ministry of Defence graves on the Isle of Sheppey, also backed the change.
He said: “The Royal British Legion work doesn’t stop round about Remembrance, and this is a way of actually getting people to think.”
The licensing committee is due to consider the wider policy in October, but any permanent amendment will then have to go before the Policy and Resources Committee.
Cllr Lloyd Bowen (Con) questioned whether an extraordinary meeting could be held rather than waiting for its scheduled November meeting, which would fall during the Remembrance Appeal period.
He said: “The quicker we get this done and dusted, the better it will be for everyone.”
Council chiefs confirmed the temporary amendment will remain in place until Policy and Resources makes a final decision.
Cllr Monique Bonney (Ind) proposed moving to the vote, which was seconded by Cllr Bowen.
Both recommendations were passed unanimously, meaning remembrance emblems can now be displayed on Swale-licensed taxis while the wider policy is reviewed.
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