3:18pm Friday 30th May 2008
By Cara Lee
The battle lines have definitely been crossed in Ashtead after a pirate flag at the centre of a dispute was mysteriously chopped down.
The flag showing a skull and crossbones and its pole, which David Waterman erected outside his Purcell Close home in March, was cut down sometime on May 20 while his daughter was at school.
"It was up when she left for school at 8am but was cut down by the time she returned at 4pm," explained Mr Waterman, who works as a firefighter at Battersea fire station.
At first the 41-year-old thought the culprit was Mole Valley District Council, whose senior planning enforcement officer had written to him on April 21 telling him he was likely to face prosecution if the flag was not removed within seven days because he did not have permission to fly it.
The council claimed the letter came in response to complaints from neighbours about the flag, which the dad-of-four bought for £5 from Abracadabra party shop in Ashtead.
But Mr Waterman refused to take it down, saying the flag symbolised a show of resilience against certain neighbours who he claimed pick on his younger children - aged eight and 10 - for playing outside.
So when he discovered it had been chopped down he presumed it was the action of the council. But a councillor told him the authority had nothing to do with it.
"An unknown person cut it down, I'd assume with a hacksaw," said Mr Waterman, "I have my suspicions who it was."
He subsequently reported it to the police, who are investigating.
"I put the flag back up the night it was targeted and it's still there," he added. "I'm about to lodge my appeal against the council's decision that it has to be removed. I'm still as determined to keep it as ever."
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