A far-right political party has agreed to stop using an altered version of Aberdeen’s coat of arms after learning it could be prosecuted.
The Aberdeen branch of the National Front was reported to the Court of the Lord Lyon for using the emblem, which bore a resemblance to the coat of arms owned by Aberdeen City Council.
The group’s website displayed a large image of the logo, which showed two leopards, a crown and the Union flag.
Alexander Green, procurator fiscal to the Court of the Lord Lyon, confirmed that he had received an official complaint from Aberdeen City Council in relation to the matter.
He was preparing to enforce action, which could have included forfeiture of all the items bearing the emblem, against the National Front but yesterday the group said it would remove the coat of arms from its website with immediate effect.
Mr Green said: “The National Front have agreed to withdraw the coat of arms from all their publicity material on their website after my discussions with them.
“I will be keeping an eye on the website and monitoring it.”
He said that under Scottish law, a person cannot display a coat of arms unless it has been registered in the Register of all Arms and Bearings in Scotland.
Last night, a spokesman for Aberdeen National Front said the group had sought advice from its legal team in England before displaying the logo, but had since discovered the information was inaccurate.
He said: “The information we received from our head office was based on English law, which is obviously different to Scottish civil law.
“We have done a bit of a check regarding the logo and discovered we have no option but to remove it.”
Councillor Willie Young, spokesman for the Labour group, described the group’s use of the emblem as a “disgrace” and welcomed the news that it was to be removed from its website.
He said: “The National Front was essentially using and abusing the coat of arms that belongs to Aberdeen City Council.
“The coat of arms belongs to the people of Aberdeen rather than any political party and we certainly don’t want the National Front to use it.”
