Remembrance Day Poppies have been moved from platforms at a Greater London train station.
The large plastic poppies had been fixed to pillars running the length of the platforms at Surbiton Station but disappeared earlier this week.
Happily, this was no slur upon Remembrance Day on 8 November.
South West Trains tweeted: “These have been removed to avoid any confusion with red signals believe it or not! We’ll be keeping them away from platforms.”
While some see the move as further evidence of the scourge of an over-eager health and safety culture, a somewhat prescient tweet from @MrDundrige had remarked upon the confusion just before the flowers were taken down.
He wrote: “Brave move what SWT have done putting big red poppies on platform pillars @Surbiton although hope there’s no signal sighting problems!”
A South West Trains spokesperson added: "The poppies have not been removed, they have simply been moved to other parts of the station, such as the ticket hall so that all passengers can appreciate them.
"We have also put up large poppies at 26 stations across our network and have donated over £2,000 to the Royal British Legion.
"All of the stations across our network are dedicated to the Poppy Appeal between 24 October and 11 November, allowing them exclusive use to collect donations from passengers."