Police are investigating claims two pro-EU campaigners were pulled over and told to remove a “Bollocks to Brexit” sticker from their car.
Passenger Peter Cook posted a video on Twitter claiming that officers had “bullied” the campaigners into removing the slogan from their Mini Cooper on the M25 near Brentwood on Sunday afternoon.
Sharing footage of the incident on social media, campaign group Bollocks to Brexit said: “Essex Police bullied us into removing ‘Bollocks’ from our car ... I am calling the Police Complaints Commission.”
Mr Cook claimed a police officer said the slogan was a “public order offence” and that he felt “totally unsafe” after being pulled over on a hard shoulder, Sky News reports.
Essex police are now investigating the incident. However, they have not yet confirmed whether displaying a “Bollocks to Brexit” sign constitutes a public order offence.
A spokesperson for the police force said: “We are trying to identify the officer from the video footage to establish the circumstances around what happened.
“In the meantime, we would encourage the driver to get in touch with us.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier this year, a passenger was put in a holding area at Gatwick Airport because he was wearing a “Bollocks to Brexit” badge.
The businessman was released after about 10 minutes but was left feeling “shaken” by the experience and reported the incident to the UK Border Force.
In November 1977, a court ruled that “bollocks” was not an obscene word after the manager of Virgin Records in Nottingham was arrested for refusing to remove the Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks from his shop window.
The manager was found not guilty after an expert witness, the head of English at Nottingham University, testified that the word was used in early versions of the Bible to mean “testicles”.
