Red-faced council has to take down Christmas trees put up too early

Shoppers in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, were shocked to see council workers putting the trees up in the Market Square at the end of September.

Aylesbury Vale District council has apologised for the mistake.

Shoppers and residents were told: "Apparently council workers had got the dates wrong."

The council leader blamed the enthusiasm of council workers for the trees going up so early.

Poor judgement

One of the most vocal protests came from ex-service organisations who did not want festive trees to be in evidence until after Remembrance Day celebrations in mid-November.

Council leader John Cartwright said: "It was a case of poor judgement.

"The council workers did not check with us.

"You can argue they showed too much initiative because they had the required machine on hire and it had a few spare hours.

"They put up the trees because it was a job that had to be done.

"They just showed bad judgement and now they have had to take the trees down again."

Martin Clark from Paula's Petals, a shop in the market square, could not believe his eyes when he saw the trees going up.