POLICE issued two stallholders at a farming show with £80 fines for displaying T-shirts bearing the slogan “Bollocks to Blair”. Officers questioned staff on two stands at the Royal Norfolk Show after receiving a complaint, subsequently issuing two fixed-penalty notices of £80 for the offending garments.

Tom Williams, co-director of the clothing firm Splash, who was manning one of the stands, said that police told him it was legal to sell the pro-hunting shirts with the slogan on the back, but illegal to put them on display.

Toby Rhodes, a fellow director, said: “It’s utterly ridiculous and totally out of proportion. We have been selling the shirts for ages as part of the Countryside Alliance’s argument with the Labour Government over foxhunting. Tom was amazed when the officers told him they were distressing some people. They said they were issuing him with a fixed-penalty ticket and asked for his eye colour, shoe size and his National Insurance number, so they could keep track of him in case he reoffended.”

He told The Times: “They just arrived and issued the fine without any warning. We told them we were happy to take the T-shirts down but they said that the offence had already been committed.

“What makes it even more ridiculous is that we have been selling them for 18 months without anyone complaining.

“What was funny was that the show’s president then asked us to stop selling them altogether, but then later on the vice-president came and asked us how he could go about buying one himself. We’re continuing to display them at shows and they are selling really well. It is a bit of a punchy slogan but I personally find it offensive for young girls to go round in T-shirts with FCUK written on them. Perhaps we should spell it Bollokcs to Blair.”

Splash Clothing, which is based in Northampton and specialises in clothes for horse riders, is this week offering the same shirts at the Royal Show in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire.

Mr Rhodes said: “The word ‘bollocks’ has come to mean rubbish. It certainly doesn’t have the same shock value that it might have had when the Sex Pistols first used it on an album.”

Last night Norfolk police defended the action. A spokesman said: “Officers from Norfolk Constabulary issued two fixed penalty notices, each with a value of £80, at the Royal Norfolk Show in relation to two trade stands displaying T-shirts emblazoned with offensive language. The notices were issued under Section 5 of the Public Order Act as the language was deemed to cause harassment, distress or alarm at an event, where a cross section of people were present including families and young children who may have found the displays offensive. Police did receive a complaint from a member of the public.

“The police officers in question explained the reasons for their actions to the two individuals concerned. Both men now have the right to either pay the penalty or challenge the action before magistrates.”

Inspector Andy Taylor added: “The stallholder was dealt with in an appropriate manner.”

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