Yorkshire staff banned from calling Tour de France fans 'love' or 'mate'
Organisers of the Tour de France’s visit to Yorkshire in England have insisted the last thing they want to do is tone down the county’s identity after it emerged volunteers were being asked to avoid traditional northern greetings such as “love”.
Thousands of “Tour Makers” have been recruited to help with up to three million people expected to flock to watch the opening two stages of the world’s most famous cycle race on July 5 and 6.
However, an online training video provoked complaints from some of those who volunteered as it advised staying clear of “words such as ’mate’, ’love’ or ’darling”’.
Welcome to Yorkshire, the tourism agency which brought the opening stages of the Tour to Yorkshire, said it wanted to do everything it could to promote Yorkshire’s identity.
But a spokesman added: “The Grand Depart of the Tour de France will celebrate everything Yorkshire, including our dialect but we want to be careful not to cause confusion for our overseas visitors.”
