diff --git a/ska_logging/__init__.py b/ska_logging/__init__.py
index 1dcf20a50f0e7f7a37b878a0ba0ca69424513b50..8d77cde10fdf61c5e5284a064e4bf04076184007 100644
--- a/ska_logging/__init__.py
+++ b/ska_logging/__init__.py
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@
 __all__ = (
     "configure_logging",
     "get_default_formatter",
-    "SkaLoggingError",
-    "SkaLoggingTagsFormatError",
 )
 __author__ = "Anton Joubert"
 __email__ = "ajoubert+ska@ska.ac.za"
@@ -15,8 +13,6 @@ __email__ = "ajoubert+ska@ska.ac.za"
 from .configuration import (
     configure_logging,
     get_default_formatter,
-    SkaLoggingError,
-    SkaLoggingTagsFormatError,
 )
 
 
diff --git a/ska_logging/configuration.py b/ska_logging/configuration.py
index 11135f31b1cb2b14562ec76bdc33dc49cd6abb48..22c6a2692a6287cdf66501e152b1963621b0b393 100644
--- a/ska_logging/configuration.py
+++ b/ska_logging/configuration.py
@@ -7,14 +7,6 @@ import logging.config
 import time
 
 
-class SkaLoggingError(Exception):
-    """Base class for all SKA Logger exceptions."""
-
-
-class SkaLoggingTagsFormatError(SkaLoggingError):
-    """Invalid format for the 'tags' field string."""
-
-
 class _UTCFormatter(logging.Formatter):
     converter = time.gmtime
 
@@ -46,7 +38,6 @@ _FORMAT_STR_WITH_TAGS = (
     "%(message)s"
 )
 
-_INVALID_TAG_CHARS = ("|", "%")
 
 _LOGGING_CONFIG = {
     "version": 1,
@@ -123,33 +114,17 @@ def get_default_formatter(tags=False):
     Parameters
     ----------
 
-    tags : bool or str, optional
-        If boolean, then treated as a toggle:
-          - True:  include the "tags" field in the format string.  This requires
-                   a tags filter to be linked to the corresponding handler.
-          - False:  exclude the "tags" field from the format string.
-        If string, then it is a static tag.  Instead of using a logging filter, the
-        formatter will just use this static string for the "tags" field directly.
+    tags : bool, optional
+        If true, then include the "tags" field in the format string.  This requires
+        a tags filter to be linked to the corresponding handler.
 
     Returns
     -------
     logging.Formatter
         A new default formatter.
 
-    Raises
-    ------
-    SkaLoggingTagsFormatError:
-        If the static tags string has an invalid format.
-
     """
-    if isinstance(tags, str):
-        invalid_chars = [c for c in _INVALID_TAG_CHARS if c in tags]
-        if invalid_chars:
-            raise SkaLoggingTagsFormatError(
-                "Invalid char(s) {} in tags: {!r}".format(invalid_chars, tags)
-            )
-        format_str = _FORMAT_STR_WITH_TAGS.replace("%(tags)s", tags)
-    elif tags:
+    if tags:
         format_str = _FORMAT_STR_WITH_TAGS
     else:
         format_str = _FORMAT_STR_NO_TAGS
diff --git a/tests/test_configuration.py b/tests/test_configuration.py
index 3e72a36a1bb83fbdae61416e8b3fea67f0c7f3da..885cc800ff4bc660f800c53563978961e47dbea2 100644
--- a/tests/test_configuration.py
+++ b/tests/test_configuration.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import pytest
 
 import ska_logging.configuration
 
-from ska_logging import configure_logging, get_default_formatter, SkaLoggingTagsFormatError
+from ska_logging import configure_logging, get_default_formatter
 
 
 @pytest.fixture
@@ -183,19 +183,6 @@ class TestGetDefaultFormatter:
         assert isinstance(formatter, ska_logging.configuration._UTCFormatter)
         assert formatter._fmt == ska_logging.configuration._FORMAT_STR_WITH_TAGS
 
-    def test_get_tags_static_string(self):
-        formatter = get_default_formatter(tags="test-key:test-value")
-        assert isinstance(formatter, ska_logging.configuration._UTCFormatter)
-        tags_format = ska_logging.configuration._FORMAT_STR_WITH_TAGS
-        expected_format = tags_format.replace("%(tags)s", "test-key:test-value")
-        assert formatter._fmt == expected_format
-
-    def test_get_tags_invalid_static_string(self):
-        with pytest.raises(SkaLoggingTagsFormatError):
-            get_default_formatter(tags="no|pipes|allowed")
-        with pytest.raises(SkaLoggingTagsFormatError):
-            get_default_formatter(tags="no%percentage%symbols%allowed")
-
 
 class TestOverride:
     """Tests for :func:`~ska_logging.configuration._override`.