Swale Council defends poppy removal order on taxi firm

Swale Borough Council has become embroiled in a row with a local taxi company after ordering it to remove poppy and Royal British Legion insignia from its vehicles.

iCar Swale, which operates on the Isle of Sheppey, has been displaying red poppies on the front of its cars and “Lest We Forget” signs on the back for three or four years. The council has now instructed the firm to take them down because they do not comply with its licensing regulations.

A spokesman for Swale Borough Council said: “Our licensing team has been allowing the use of the poppy and the Royal British Legion sticker on iCar Swale. However, following a complaint, we checked the use against our policy and it is not permitted under our Hackney carriage and private hire licensing policy.” The spokesman stressed that the issue was not about the poppy or the Royal British Legion, which the council supports, but about a vehicle not complying with policy.

The decision has provoked strong criticism. Richard Palmer, a Swale borough councillor and Armed Forces Champion, is himself a veteran who served in Northern Ireland. He argued the council has misapplied its own rules. “I don’t think the council have interpreted their own rules correctly,” he said, pointing out that the policy being cited is Appendix B, which relates to executive cars and limousines. He said iCar Swale does not operate that kind of vehicle.

Palmer also raised a broader complaint: the council had previously inspected the vehicles while the poppies were on display, and no objection had been made until now. He said the council has “gone overbearing”, and that residents are crying out for the council to deal with real issues, yet it is spending time on what he called “wrong policies”.

The row has drawn a wider reaction. Martin Abrams, leader of Lambeth Council and a member of the Green Party, said that as a council leader he would allow the poppies to stay. He said the poppy is an important symbol of remembrance for the millions of working class people sent to war, and that he wears both a red poppy and a white poppy as a sign of his anti-war politics. “Councils just need common sense,” he said. “Choose your battles, focus on the basics, sorting the bins out, keeping our streets clean, keeping our parks tidy.”

No formal decision to overturn the council order has been announced, and the company has not yet confirmed whether it will challenge the removal order.