On Your Cars
During every major football tournament, there are always plenty of reports surrounding where and when you can fly your St George’s flag, and this year is no different.
The 2018 World Cup is in full swing, and as fans rush to display their patriotism, newspapers and the internet are full with fake stories regarding the flags.
But, can the flying the England flag really get you into trouble?
The issues to consider about driving with flags attached to your car are:
- Vision – does the flag obscure the driver or any others drivers vision of the road?
- ADVERTISING – Could it be classed as an insecure load, i.e. likely to come off and cause damage/injury?
- The size of the flag – a normal flag (usually about the size of A4 paper) would not normally cause any problems, but obviously the larger the flag, the more potential for problems.
Therefore, there are no specific offences to flying a flag on your car, as long as it fits the rules above.
On Your Home
Flying the St Georges flag on your car is not the only issue to surround the World Cup. There has been numerous reports about having flags attached to your home as well.
However, recently the government have altered the regulations that dictate which type of flags you can and cannot fly in England –
The full list of flags that do not require consent are:
- Any country’s national flag, civil ensign or civil air ensign
- The flag of the Commonwealth, the European Union, the United Nations or any other international organisation of which the United Kingdom is a member
- A flag of any island, county, district, borough, burgh, parish, city, town or village within the United Kingdom
- The flag of the Black Country, East Anglia, Wessex, any Part of Lincolnshire, any Riding of Yorkshire or any historic county within the United Kingdom
- The flag of Saint David
- The flag of Saint Patrick
- The flag of any administrative area within any country outside the United Kingdom
- Any flag of Her Majesty’s forces
- The Armed Forces Day flag.
*The flags of St George and St Andrew are recognised as the national flags of England and Scotland, but the flags of St David and St Patrick are listed separately as they do not necessarily fall into the category of a country’s national flag.
Nevertheless, these changes were only made in 2010 due to health and safety reasons, and nothing more.
Weatherspoon’s Ban
The controversy surrounding the St George’s flag doesn’t end there…
Two days ago, it was released that the food and drink chain, Weatherspoon’s, had banned their staff from displaying England flags in all of the 880 pubs across the United Kingdom.
“We wouldn’t want an England flag being put up in the heart of a pub by a staff member. Whether flags are put up in staff rooms is up to the discretion of the manager. We have sent all pubs bunting, which includes flags of all the teams,” Eddie Gershon, Weatherspoon’s Spokesperson.
The chain has also said that it will support managers if they want to refuse to serve customers who are wearing England tops!
This announcement comes days after the Royal Mail also banned workers from hanging flags on their delivery vehicles during the World Cup.
It goes without saying that the St George’s flag is to attached controversy, however, this is an entirely different topic…
‘The Greatest Show on Earth’
The World Cup 2018 is currently into it’s 5th day, and fans have already seen some amazing football, a hat-trick from Ronaldo against Spain, and some shocking results for Germany and Brazil.
However, tonight is England’s first game of the tournament against Tunisia. Let’s hope it’s an easy three points to start their campaign…
