“It was to bring us all together and put smiles on people’s faces.”
A businessman says he was left “disgusted” after being slapped with a bill of almost £3,000 for putting up “unauthorised flags”.
Will Haylett, 43, insists he was only trying to “lift people’s spirits” when he hoisted dozens of Union and St George’s flags on lampposts around Scarborough, North Yorkshire, using his company’s cherry picker.
He did not expect to receive an invoice demanding £2,785.50 after workers at North Yorkshire Council took them down.
The spat comes after thousands of the flags appeared on lampposts, railings and roundabouts in towns and cities across the country last year.
But while some praised the displays as a show of pride, others branded them intimidating or politically loaded, prompting complaints and removals in several areas.
In a letter to Will’s firm Squeeky Clean, North Yorkshire Council said it had removed 64 flags “believed to be your property” – but added that if he wanted them returned, it would cost £36.27 per flag plus VAT.
Will said: “I was disgusted with the council.
“To solve the problem, I said I’d make a donation to a veterans charity instead – and they accepted that.”
He added: “I’ve lived in Scarborough all of my life.
“For years, I’ve been driving around and seeing local people down and depressed. I thought, what’s going on?
“I have a cherry picker, so I thought I could help lift people’s spirits by putting up a few flags here and there.
“It was to bring us all together and put smiles on people’s faces.”
Prior to receiving the invoice, Will, who has run his exterior cleaning and high-level maintenance business for 11 years, said he’d had “back and forth” with the council.
He said: “The council wanted me to stop putting things on ‘our’ lampposts. I thought, what’s the problem?
“It all came from one or two lefties.”
North Yorkshire Council said it is an offence to attach flags to lampposts without the authority’s permission and that they could pose a “safety issue”, adding that the authority had received complaints about their appearance.
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