A FORMER Southampton shop assistant who forced a fashion company to overturn its rule forbidding poppies from being worn by staff has launched a petition aimed at preventing shops from banning the charity symbol.

Harriet Phipps, pictured was told last year to remove the poppy while working at the Hollister store in West Quay.

The 19-year-old was told that her job as a “model” required her to wear clothes from the shop to provide customers with an impression of how they look.

But after meeting the shop’s management, she persuaded them to change their rules to allow staff to wear the poppy for a two-week period.

Now Miss Phipps, who has ceased working for the firm has continued her campaign to promote the British Legion cause.

Having met veterans, she has launched an online petition calling on the Government to amend the law to prevent firms from being allowed to ban the poppy.

She is calling for a change to the Equality Act 2010, paragraph three of Schedule 9, which protects the image of an organisation with its customers.

The teenager, who has moved back to her home town of Stratford-Upon- Avon, Warwickshire, has her own website and has produced T-shirts and leaflets to encourage people to sign up to her petition.

If she gains 100,000 signatures, the Government will be forced to consider debating the issue in Parliament.