Christians Under Attack

Employees at the housing association were sent a group e-mail warning that decking out their personal vehicles with the St George's flags could 'discriminate' against those who don't support England during the World Cup.

Managers at Bolton At Home in Greater Manchester, which manages 18,200 council houses in Bolton, insist cars owned by their workforce must remain 'neutral' in order to treat all its 'customers with respect and without discrimination'.

But today an employee at the organisation said: 'It's an absolute disgrace.

'All we want to do is show our support for the England football team in the World Cup but we are in effect being told it is racist to start waving the England flag.

'A ban would be bad enough on company cars but these are our own vehicles and we should be allowed to do what we like with them. This is Big Brother mentality gone bonkers.'

Another worker said: 'People are decking out the streets and houses in England flags yet the bosses here are being killjoys in the name of political correctness.

'The message seems to be from them that we should be embarrassed to wave the England flag. Yet all of us think we should be waving the England flag with pride. Don't our bosses want England to win the World Cup?'

The rule is part of a set of World Cup protocols employees at the company must follow during the tournament.

All staff were sent an e-mail banning them from displaying car flags, stickers, posters and 'other World Cup merchandise'.

The rule applies to Bolton At Home-branded vehicles, public offices and any personal vehicles used for work and for which an employee claims 'essential or casual car allowance'.

Staff have also been told not to use work mobile phones to check World Cup scores because it is too expensive.

Mark Perryman, head of the official England supporters club, said: 'Banning the use of any flag is wrong and simply suppresses multiculturalism.

'The idea that you can suppress something like this by diktat is ludicrous and incredibly badly thought out.

'South Africa is a country with an appalling history - apartheid, famine, Aids, being badly treated by the empire - but everybody is flying the flag of the rainbow nation. People in England should be doing the same.'

Bolton At Home was set up in 2003 as an Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) in partnership with Bolton Council and numerous agencies.

It vows to "work to improve the social and economic conditions of both the estates where our houses are located as well as other disadvantaged areas in the Bolton borough." 

It is run by a board made up of councillors, independent members and tenants.

But in 2003, Bolton At Home employees were prohibited from displaying national flags and stickers on their cars following a complaint about an Irish flag on a caretaker's van.

On its website the organisation says: 'Equality and valuing diversity are central to our organisational values.

'We want our workplace to be free of discrimination against any racial or social group, or any individual. We have set out these principles in our equality statement.'

A Bolton At Home spokesman said: 'We believe our working arrangements are simply a common sense approach to honouring our responsibilities for delivering quality customer services during the World Cup.

'The organisation is justifiably proud of its staff and the manner in which they conduct business.

'Bolton At Home has practices in place in order to maintain and improve standards of conduct, as well as protect staff from any misunderstanding or unfair criticism.

'We follow a code of conduct to treat all our customers with respect, and without discrimination.

'We want to avoid the potential for flag displays to be taken out of context and so we believe their use during work-related activities to be inappropriate.'

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