Daily Mail
April 28, 2014
A patriotic forklift driver was sacked after he turned up for work in an England flag hat – on St George’s Day.
Adam Lawson, 32, wanted to celebrate England’s national day at his job at South Marston Distribution Centre (SDC) in Swindon, Wiltshire.
But the father-of-three was ordered to remove the red and white flat cap because it was not part of the official uniform.
Mr Lawson refused – and was later told never to come back.
Mr Lawson, who is also from Swindon, said: ‘I was told that I couldn’t work while I was wearing it as it did not match uniform standards.
‘It is ridiculous, it was St George’s Day and it was a little thing that I wanted to do to celebrate it.
‘St George’s Day is part of English culture, I didn’t want to offend anyone or cause malice and I don’t believe I did.
‘I’m disgusted as I’m a patriotic guy and to me it is wrong that I wasn’t allowed to celebrate English culture and was deterred from doing so, as I wasn’t doing any harm.
‘I think it is a sad state of affairs if we are stopped from acknowledging our culture.’
Mr Lawson had worked at SDC, which stocks Honda parts, for eight months through the agency Pertemps, He had handed in his notice one day earlier because he had a new job.
But he later received a phone call from the recruitment company, apparently telling him SDC did not want him to work through his notice period.
Mr Lawson, who lives with partner Sam Gregory and three children Paige, six, Lexi, four, and one-year-old Jamie, believes his colleagues are on his side.
He said: ‘When I was leaving, a lot of my colleagues came up to me and said they had sympathy for me.
‘I got the phone call at about 4pm telling me they didn’t want me back which was a shock as I’d worked really hard there.