Nightmare before Christmas after 'sorry' tree installed

Councillors in a Lancashire town were left red faced after seeing their worse-for-wear Christmas tree installed in the market square.

In a statement on social media, Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "How many times have you ordered something, only for it to arrive and not be quite what you were expecting?"

Councillor Matt Jackson told BBC Radio Lancashire that a local resident first alerted him to the "sorry" tree, sending a picture with the caption "this is truly terrible".

The council, which says it is "not happy" with the somewhat flaccid tree, said a suitable replacement would be installed on Wednesday in time for the Christmas light switch-on at the weekend.

Jackson said he had soon spoken to council leader, Phil Riley, who agreed with the original contractors to deliver a replacement fir in time.

Councillor Anthony Shaw agreed the tree needed to go: "I go away for a few hours, and chaos happens.

"Someone somewhere messed up, we will get to the bottom of it. It will be replaced with a... well, a living one".

Listeners to BBC Radio Lancashire, however, saw the funny side, with one texting in that New York's famous "Rockefeller [tree] has nowt on this", while another thought they had seen "better trees thrown out after Christmas".

Another was not as concerned, writing in: "Does it really matter if it's not perfect? It's just a tree after all."

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