{"id":389647,"date":"2025-09-01T16:26:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/389647\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T16:26:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T16:26:20","slug":"council-refuses-to-remove-england-flags-from-coulsdon-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/389647\/","title":{"rendered":"Council refuses to remove England flags from Coulsdon Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Complaint ignored:<\/strong> Croydon Council rejected a resident\u2019s complaint over the unlawful fixing of the flags to lampposts along Coulsdon Common<\/p>\n

Croydon\u2019s failed Mayor, Jason Perry, went on the telly last week boasting of \u201czero tolerance\u201d for fly-tippers.<\/p>\n

Yet his council has refused to remove hundreds of St George cross flags that have been tethered illegally to lamp posts along Coulsdon Road, through Coulsdon Common and past The Fox pub, all the way into Caterham and Surrey.<\/p>\n

The flags along Coulsdon Road \u2013 mostly at half-staff, which is generally regarded as poor form unless someone important has died \u2013 constitute fly-posting, which can be punished with fines of up to \u00a32,500 if convicted in court.<\/p>\n

Yet Croydon Council has refused to act to have the flags removed, even though it is well-established that the use of such flags is part of a co-ordinated hate campaign against minority groups.<\/p>\n

Farage flag-shaggers and tragic roundabout painters have climbed out from under their rocks at the urgings of hardened and extreme far-right activists.<\/p>\n

The co-founder of \u201cOperation Raise the Colours\u201d is Andrew Currien, also known as Andy Saxon, a long-time ally of Stephen Yaxley Lennon, the serial criminal who calls himself Tommy Robinson.<\/p>\n

Currien was previously a member of the English Defence League\u2019s \u201cbodyguard team\u201d, and he now runs security for the far-right Britain First party.<\/p>\n

Currien has a significant criminal record: he was one of six men convicted in 2009 after a 59-year-old man was crushed to death by a car following a violent brawl, the attack being racially motivated.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAcross the country, many of the small groups that have come together to raise the flags are being organised by well-known far-right extremists,\u201d Hope Not Hate is reporting.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cBritain First claims to have provided many of the flags in the North West. \u2018Britain First has, so far, donated 75% of its flag stock to local teams in Manchester and the West Midlands for \u201cOperation Raise The Colours\u201d,\u2019 tweeted [Britain First] leader Paul Golding.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Saxon worrier:<\/strong> the far-right is claiming credit for the distribution of the St George\u2019s flags<\/p>\n

There is nothing wrong with raising the Union flag or cross of St George (provided the usual niceties of having the owner\u2019s prior permission). Despite deliberately provocative claims to the contrary, it has never been illegal to be proud to be English or British.<\/p>\n

And not everyone who has raised a flag in the past few weeks will be far-right.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the fact that much of this wave of activism is being organised by well-known racists and extremists does raise questions about the motivations behind much of Operation Raise the Colours,\u201d Hope Not Hate says.<\/p>\n

Which then brings us to the rights and wrongs of abusing public infrastructure, an area in which Tory Mayor Perry has form, having run a Facebook page which glorified, celebrated and encouraged some to deface and destroy ULEZ cameras and equipment<\/a> when the clean-air zone was extended to outer London two years ago.<\/p>\n

The ULEZ vandalism Facebook page was part of another concerted campaign which was described then as a \u201cvile cesspit of racism\u201d.<\/p>\n

And now Piss-poor Perry\u2019s council is refusing to act over the defacing of public property \u2013 mostly lamp posts along the main road to Caterham.<\/p>\n

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Zero action:<\/strong> Croydon\u2019s Tory Mayor Jason Perry<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not just one or two\u2026 There\u2019s hundreds of the things,\u201d according to a concerned reader.<\/p>\n

They reported those that are in Caterham to Tandridge District Council. Tandridge told the member of the public to contact Surrey County Council. And Surrey referred the complaint to Tandridge\u2026<\/p>\n

With Croydon, the complainant was told to use the council\u2019s CrapApp. The only problem being that the CrapApp has no category for fly-posting (or flag-shagging, for that matter). FixMyStreet, the alternative, and free, app, run by mySociety, does have a fly-posting category under which to make reports.<\/p>\n

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Undeterred, the concerned resident managed to jump through the CrapApp\u2019s digital hoops to file their complaint, in which they noted: \u201cI find it extremely upsetting and intimidating as this crude perversion of our national flag into political propaganda makes me feel like I am living in a fascist state.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt is clearly one group\u2019s attempt to claim ownership over public land and municipal assets. Please remove them.\u201d<\/p>\n

But after they pressed \u201cSend\u201d, they got a reply which summarily closed the complaint: \u201cYour report has now been closed.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, on this occasion it has been marked as \u2018Not completed\u2019. You can view updates on the report in your Love Clean Streets app.\u201d<\/p>\n

The response, from Croydon Council, said that common reasons for complaints being closed in this way include:<\/p>\n