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, was ordered to remove the red and white flat cap during a meeting because it was not part of his official uniform.
But when he refused he was sent home – and later received a phone call telling him not to return to the car parts distribution centre.
The father-of-three 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.”
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Adam, from Swindon, Wilts., has worked at South Marston Distribution Centre (SDC) – which stocks Honda parts – for eight months through the agency Pertemps.
He received a phone call from the recruitment company after the disagreement with his team leader on Wednesday, apparently telling him SDC did not want him to return to work.
Adam, who lives with partner Sam Gregory and three children Paige, six, Lexi, four, and one-year-old Jamie, said his colleagues have been on his side.
He said: “When I was leaving, a lot of my colleagues came up to me and said that the team leader was in the wrong and 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.
“I’d handed my notice in on Tuesday, as I have a new job, and I think with all the redundancies going on at the minute this was just an excuse to get rid of me a few days early.
“I have three children to provide for so I’m pretty annoyed.”
Anne Wilkes, operations director at Pertemps, in Swindon, said: “The employee did attend work with SDC with a hat on.
“He was asked to remove the hat by a team leader and refused.
“He was asked a second time to remove it, and failure to remove would be that he would be sent home.
“The reason for that is it isn’t part of the personal protection equipment for working on site.
“Any manufacturing company, including SDC and Honda, have a strict uniform policy.
“He’s been released from assignment at SDC but he’s not been sacked.
“It’s a shame. We’re very very sorry to hear that he had been released.”
SDC has yet to respond to a request for comment.
