Midlothian Council's Christmas trees are replaced

Bilston residents turned out last year to decorate their tree

Christmas trees delivered ahead of town centre celebrations have had to be replaced at the last minute after they were described as having been 'dumped by Del Boy'.

MIdlothian Council took delivery of its trees ahead of Christmas lights switch-ons in its communities this week.

However, the state of some of the trees has led to a string of complaints from local residents.

One woman contacted the local authority to say the tree, which had been installed in Loanhead, was “a sorry sight”.

And another described the tree delivered to Newtongrange as a “disgrace”, adding it “looked like Del Boy had dumped it and done a runner”.

And a resident in Roslin told the council their tree was also under-whelming, saying: “The one that you put up looks like you took it off the dump from last year.”

Midlothian Council’s cabinet member with responsibility for open spaces, Councillorr John Hackett said: “We were not happy with the quality of four Christmas trees delivered for Loanhead, Newtongrange, Bilston and Mayfield.

“We contacted the supplier to complain and we’ve now made arrangements for replacements. These will be in situ before any switch-ons. Obviously we are only paying for the trees we use.

“Thanks to our residents for their patience and I’ll take the opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, even if it’s a bit early.”

It is not the first time the local authority’s trees have come under fire. Last year angry residents of Bilston shared pictures of their Christmas tree, which appeared to have a single string of lights wrapped around its top half only on Twitter, branding it the “saddest Christmas tree in Scotland”.