OLYMPICS: Bunting ‘too dangerous’ for celebration (From The Oxford Times)

OLYMPICS: Bunting ‘too dangerous’ for celebration

10:30am Saturday 23rd June 2012 in Olympics News: Oxfordshire

Trudi Lee in Sheep Street, Bicester

BUNTING made by schoolchildren for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, cannot be used at an Olympic street party because of ‘health and safety’, it has been claimed.

More than 2,000 Bicester children spent weeks decorating flags to form bunting for the town’s Jubilee celebrations earlier this month.

But when volunteer Trudi Lee suggested the bunting should be used as decoration during the Olympic torch’s visit to Bicester on Monday, July 9, she said she was told it would be too dangerous.

She said: “It’s ridiculous. We wanted to hang it up in Sheep Street, but the district council told me that, for health and safety reasons, it would not be safe because of the height of the torch relay support vehicles.

“But then if we had them any lower they said people would try and reach it.”

Both Cherwell District Council and Bicester Town Council, which is organising some of the decoration for the day said they did not know who had spoken to Mrs Lee, of Severn Close.

A Cherwell spokesman said he was trying to find out whether the flags would be used.

Mrs Lee said: “The children will be so upset about this. It’s such a shame.”