A BAN on Hampshire firefighters flying flags from their vehicles during last year's football World Cup led to a massive rise in complaints against the force, new figures have revealed.

Despite Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service saying at the time that the decision was taken to prevent other nationalities being offended at the sight of the St George's flag, bosses yesterday back-tracked on that claim.

Instead a spokesman said that the ban was put in place purely for health and safety reasons over fears that one of the flags could detach from a fire engine and hit a passer-by.

As reported in the Daily Echo last June, the ban meant workers for the fire service were prevented from putting up flags on their fire trucks or from displaying any flags on the force's buildings.

The decision, though, led to an uproar from Hampshire residents, with dozens writing in to complain about the heavy-handed tactics.

Complaints rocketed from a target of 20 for the first six months to an actual figure of 63 - 42 more than had been received during the same period the previous year.