BOSSES at one of Bolton’s biggest employers have banned staff from flying England flags from their own cars during the World Cup.

Excitement is reaching fever pitch as people across Bolton get behind England.

But enthusiasm has been dampened at Bolton at Home.

Chiefs at the organisation, which manages Bolton’s 18,500 council houses, say vehicles must remain “neutral” in order to treat all its customers “with respect and without discrimination”.

The rule is part of a set of World Cup protocols all 1,200 workers must follow during the tournament. All staff were sent an e-mail banning them from displaying car flags, stickers, posters and “other World Cup merchandise”.

The rule applies to Bolton at Home-branded vehicles, public offices and any personal vehicles used for work and for which an employee claims “essential or casual car allowance”.

Staff have also been told not to use work mobile phones to check scores because it is too expensive. One member of staff, who asked not to be named, said: “We all think it’s a bit unnecessary. I can understand not putting flags up in public offices — but in your own car?

“Everyone gets casual car allowance so it’s basically saying you can’t put them on your own car.

“It covers the whole organisation, it’s a blanket ban.”

Another member of staff said: “I couldn't believe it when I saw it.”

Mark Perryman, head of the official England supporters club, said banning the use of flags was “suppressing multiculturalism”.

Speaking from South Africa, he said: “Obviously everyone in England is not going to be supporting England, but we should be big enough and bold enough to celebrate that people in Bolton will be supporting other teams.

“The idea that you can suppress that by diktat is one I find ludicrous and incredibly badly thought out.

“South Africa is a country with an appalling history — apartheid, famine, AIDS, being badly treated by the empire — but everybody is flying the flag of the rainbow nation. People in England should be doing the same.”

Bolton’s other public organisations, the council and the NHS, said they would not be implementing World Cup protocols.

It is not the first time Bolton at Home has imposed a ban. In 2003, employees were prohibited from displaying national flags and stickers on their cars following a complaint about an Irish flag on a caretaker’s van.

A Bolton at Home spokesman said: “We believe our working arrangements are simply a common sense approach to honouring our responsibilities for delivering quality customer services during the World Cup. The organisation is justifiably proud of its staff and the manner in which they conduct business.

“Bolton at Home has practices in place in order to maintain and improve standards of conduct, as well as protect staff from any misunderstanding or unfair criticism. We follow a code of conduct to treat all our customers with respect, and without discrimination.

“We want to avoid the potential for flag displays to be taken out of context and so we believe their use during work-related activities to be inappropriate.”