A PANAMANIAN flag of convenience flies defiantly on one of the Shaldon ferries.

It is a tongue-in-cheek protest by ferryman Greg Allen in a bureaucratic battle he is having with a maritime authority.

He has locked horns with MECAL, a commercial vessel certifying body acting on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, about the issuing of a vital operating licence for his small reserve ferry.

Mr Allen wants to use the smaller craft in the winter when trade drops off, and insists it it perfectly fit to ply across the estuary.

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