A photograph circulating online does not show Belfast City Council staff moving bonfire pallets, the local authority has said.
The image shows three men, two of whom are wearing high-visibility clothing, carrying pallets near a bonfire site at Donegall Pass.
It sparked controversy when it was posted on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon, as many believed the men were council workers.
With their distinctive blue colour and branding, the wooden pallets in the picture can be distinguished as those owned by the company Chep.
The for-hire pallets are used in the firm's pooling service for retail and industrial supply chains and are not bought and sold.
Yesterday Belfast City Council said the men in the photograph are not its workers.
"We have investigated this internally and early indications are that these are not Belfast City Council employees," a spokesperson said.
"The action referred to in the tweet was not sanctioned by Belfast City Council."
In June last year, the council handed over hundreds of pallets it was storing for a loyalist bonfire to Chep after the company claimed ownership of them.
It came after The Irish News revealed the council was controversially storing pallets.
The following month it was reported that more than £20,000 worth of Chep pallets were to be burnt on the Lanark Way bonfire in Belfast.
Each of the pallets are said to be worth between £15 and £20 each.
Chep spoke out against the burning of their pallets on bonfires in Northern Ireland, after hundreds of them were pictured on pyres in various locations across the city.
"Chep equipment is only ever hired – never sold. The Chep business model involves equipment pooling and our pallets are a valuable asset," a spokesperson said.
"We do not condone using Chep pallets for burning on bonfires, and we work closely with the local authorities and with bonfire liaison officers to recover our pallets from these sites whenever it is safe to do so.
"We make our best efforts to secure our pallets but also seek to ensure the safety of our people."
