WORLD War Two veterans have lost a battle with bureaucracy and cancelled a special event after months of planning.

Members of the Royal British Legion, the Normandy Veterans’ Association and the Burma Star Association, among others, retreated in the face of demands for extra liability insurance and another risk assessment.

Although £5million public liability insurance was in place, Shepway District Council feared it would not be enough and wanted another assessment. So the organisers scrapped the Veterans Day planned for Folkestone on Saturday, June 30.

It was to be held on the council-owned Garden of Remembrance in Sandgate Road and the council said it had to ensure it was not left open to financial risk.

Eighty-four-year-old Normandy veteran Frank Himsworth, a WWII tank commander who also fought in the Battle of Arnhem, was among those who expressed bitter disappointment.

Vic Seymour, of the Fokestone Ex-Service Liaison Committee, said: "With less than four weeks to go we were continually being asked to comply with new or revised regulations. Unfortunately it is a litigious world we live in."

Full story and more reaction in the Folkestone Edition of the Kentish Express