A MOTHER whose son was knocked down and killed has added her voice to a growing protest against Bolton Council’s decision to remove roadside memorials.

Kathleen Rankin, whose son Christopher Dain was killed by a taxi driver in Blackburn Road in February 2006, will join hundreds of other protesters in Bolton town centre today.

And she has added the words “We Shall Not Be Removed” to one of her son’s St George’s Cross flags, which permanently mark the spot where he died.

Mrs Rankin said: “I get a lot of comfort from having this where Christopher died. Cars have to slow down because it is next to the traffic lights so I cannot see why it is a distraction.

“If anything it will remind drivers to drive responsibly.”

Organisers of the peaceful protest, which will end with a two-minutes silence in Victoria Square at 2pm, are expecting up to 1,000 people to attend.

Mrs Rankin, who regularly changes the flowers and the flag at the spot where Mr Dain was killed, said: “It is council bureaucracy gone mad again. Why are they doing this when it is doing no one any harm?”

Protesters will lay flowers at the base of trees in Newport Street this afternoon.

Philip Macdougall, who has planned the march after being moved by the tale of Michaela Bate who maintains a tribute at the site in Farnworth where her daughter Carla was killed in 2004, said: “We just want as many people to come down and show the council we are against this new policy. It is going to be a peaceful protest and I am sure the message will be loud and clear.”

Town hall chiefs approved the new policy, which will see tributes removed after 30 days and non-perishable items kept for a further 90 days for families to reclaim, earlier this month.

It followed a consultation exercise in which the majority of 1,100 people who took part agreed with the new stance.

They plan to have a permanent memorial to road death victims in Queen’s Park.

andrew.greaves@ theboltonnews.co.uk