A man who had 120 patriotic flags removed by his local council has been told he must pay £4,300 if he wants them returned.
Shaun Remmer, 49, has also been warned he will face a £36 fine for each new St George or Union Jack flag he puts up in his home town of Thirsk, North Yorkshire.
Mr Remmer says he was simply being patriotic when he erected the flags.
However, he said he was left “shocked” after receiving a letter from North Yorkshire Council explaining he would be charged £36 per flag for removal if he continues.
Mr Remmer said he was informed the council has already spent more than £4,300 taking down 120 of his flags, which he was told he will only receive back if he covers that bill.
He said: “I couldn’t believe it, to be honest. It was absolutely shocking.
“They’ve argued that I shouldn’t have put them up, which is fair enough.
“But what really annoys me is that they’ve decided taking flags down is the utmost priority in Thirsk – when there are so many other things that need fixing.
“I asked in my reply what other options they’d explored for pricing. I could have got someone to take them down for much less than what they paid.”
Mr Remmer, who has ambitions to stand as a councillor for Reform UK, maintained that the response to the flags has been overwhelmingly positive and dismissed safety concerns raised by the authority.
He said: “I wanted to bring that national pride back, which we just don’t have as a country. People loved it.
“One lady told me she was taking the kids to school and it gave her butterflies in her stomach to see all the flags.
“You obviously get some people who hate flags – and it seems to me like the council has just listened to that small handful of people.
“They’ve said it’s to do with safety issues about flags covering signs, but none of them are blocking road signs.”
Mr Remmer revealed that the controversy surrounding the flags has also impacted his employment.
He had been working as a teaching assistant at a York school for 12 months via an agency, but he alleged the school chose not to renew his contract after learning of his flag displays.
Responding to the matter, North Yorkshire Council’s corporate director of environment Karl Battersby stated: “We have been very clear on the law regarding this matter and taken pains to explain this in writing more than once to those involved.
“The use of highways assets in some of the ways we have seen is unsafe and we understand has included people climbing ladders on the highway, leaning them against lampposts or other highways infrastructure, undertaking this while traffic is passing, and so on.
“There are risks of the flags blocking CCTV and road signage as well as them coming loose and blowing into the paths and roads, to name a few. All of this has been made clear.
“This matter has also proven to be deeply divisive across our communities and the people we serve, with many requests we take the appropriate action.
“We have nothing further to say on this which would be helpful.”
