This is why England flags have been removed from a street in Doncaster
England flags have been removed from poles in a street in Doncaster for health and safety reasons – after an incident in which police were called to the scene.
A number of flags had been attached to poles in Broadway, Dunscroft as part of a nationwide protest dubbed Operation Raise The Colours, which has also seen people paint St George’s crosses on roundabouts as part of a “patriotic” display of England and Union flags.
A post about the removal, widely shared on social media, read: “Sat in the Broadway last night having a few Newcastle Browns when two police cars with flashing lights pulled up.
"Out they got and started taking the Union Jacks down.
"Annoyed at this, I went to chat with them.
"The reason it took five bobbies was beyond me but they claimed the flags were a hazard because they were near a crossroad.”
But the actual reason is that the flags were removed by telecommunications firm Openreach for health and safety reasons.
A spokesperson said: "Our network and poles help keep everyone connected, so it’s important they stay clear and safe.
"We ask people to check with us before attaching anything to them, as some items can pose a risk to our engineers, the public or the network itself.
"We’ve seen incidents in the past, which is why our engineers are simply following standard procedure by removing unauthorised attachments that haven't followed our guidelines."
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson confirmed officers had been called to the street to assist with a road closure while the work took place.