A local businessman who had been questioned by the police after he erected a large illuminated sign asking:

“Dear Father Christmas all we really need is our country back!”

will not be facing any further action Hampshire Police have said.

Timothy ‘Dusty’ Miller (64) who runs Hedge End based Millers Taxis has erected the sign outside his house at the bottom of Sunday’s Hill, Botley in full view of the passing traffic on the busy main road.

Last week he explained to Ray Turner that he had put the sign up because he wanted the UK to leave the EU and also expressed strong views on the EU, freemasonry, Catholicism and the ‘common purpose’ leadership development programme.

He also condemned politicians as traitors and ‘hypocrites’ for laying wreaths on the cenotaph in honour of those who died fighting for ‘free speech and democracy’ while ‘giving it away’ to the EU.

Officers from Hampshire Constabulary visited Miller yesterday morning and he was later questioned informally.

According to Mr Miller, a police officer told him they had received ‘quite a few’ (number unspecified) complaints about the sign and asked him how long he intended to display it.

He was also asked if he belonged to a political party.

In a statement Hampshire Police said:

“We are aware of the sign and that some people have complained because they feel it may have racist connotations. “We have spoken to the property owner who erected the sign and he has told us the sign reflects a political view rather than a racial one. “As the wording of the sign is not in itself racist or offensive, no criminal offence is being committed.”

Miller – a Ukip member – said he intends to keep the current sign up for the ’12 days of Christmas’ but added that it was going to be ‘the first of many’ running up to the May 22 Euro Elections and warned the message ‘would get harder and harder’.

He told Eastleigh News that his next sign – due to be erected just before the UK opens its borders to Bulgarian and Romanian migrants on January 1 – would be directed at David Cameron with the message ‘Shut the door’.

“He has got to shut the door” said Miller,

“We have been swamped by every nationality”

Miller also told Eastleigh News he wasn’t surprised to hear from the police and that a woman had previously knocked on his door and called him an:

“Evil, nasty, obnoxious shit”

But he insisted that people should not be offended by the sign:

“There is nothing about this sign that is racist. “Everybody calls you a racist for wanting to control immigration”.

The cabbie said his views on immigration only reflected the opinions of the ordinary everyday people he had encountered as passengers over 40 years; that he had been born in India and that he would happily employ Romanians or Bulgarians as taxi drivers.