Town hall threatens father with £2,500 fine for flying flag to welcome soldier sons home
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:21 PM on 06th February 2009
A proud father was threatened with a £2,500 fine when he flew the England flag to welcome his sons home from guarding the Queen.
Robert Smithson put up the flag in the front garden of his cottage when twin sons Richard and Robert came home on leave from Buckingham Palace for the first time.
A pernickety council official warned he faced a huge fine - because the flag pole was at the wrong angle.
Patriotic: Robert Smithson with the flag he put up for his sons' homecoming
But now the council has been forced to admit it does not know its own planning regulations and the official was at fault.
The 40-year-old gas engineer of Millfield, Sunderland, said he received a letter from Sunderland City Council following a complaint by a member of the public.
He said: 'It said that I'm allowed to fly the flag vertically, but not horizontally.
'They said the way I have it now means it is classed as advertising, so I need to have a licence. And if I didn't obtain one, it meant I could be paying a maximum £2,500 fine.
'I would have laughed, had the whole thing not been so serious.'
Mr Smithson said the only way to make the flagpole vertical would have been to wedge it insecurely in the drainpipe.
He has previously decorated his house with the cross of St George when England have reached the final stages of international football tournaments
But this time he put the flag up to honour his 18-year-old sons, who belong to the Coldstream Guards.
Pride and joy: Mr Smithson's sons Richard (left) and Robert pictured on duty in their Coldstream Guards
'I'm very proud,' he said. 'They've been serving their country and standing outside Buckingham Palace guarding the Queen.'
Mr Smithson was especially riled by the council's high-handed approach.
'For somebody to put a complaint in about the national flag is bad enough, but the way the council has handled it is appalling.
'Why did they send a threatening letter out first, when they could've just knocked on the door and had a quiet word when they came out to look at the flag?
'If I had been a pensioner I would have had a heart attack reading a threatening letter like that saying I could owe £2,500.'
Sunderland City Council have now admitted they were in the wrong because the latest regulations exclude national flags.
'At first we thought it needed consent,' said planning chief Phil Barrett. 'We have now decided the flag can stay.
'We will be writing to Mr Smithson and apologising for any upset the letter has caused.'
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