Festive tree topples over hours after big switch-on

A Cambridgeshire town's 15ft (4.5m) artificial Christmas tree has toppled over and been taken away just a day after it was unveiled at the switch-on event.

No one was injured when the tree in Great Whyte, Ramsey, came down on Sunday afternoon in high winds.

Adela Costello, a town and county councillor and chair of the Ramsey Christmas lights committee, said that before it fell there were reports it had been damaged.

It is thought that someone had removed the weights from inside that were securing it.

Ms Costello said that the Ramsey town Christmas event had to be moved to the community centre because of high winds on Saturday evening, but the light switch on, which included the tree went ahead at around 17:45 BST.

"We bought the tree last year, thinking it would be more economically viable than having to buy a real one every Christmas," she said.

"It had cost about £5,500 and was made possible thanks to grants.

"The only issue was it was too small, so we added an extension this year, but that cost another £2,500. We are a small committee with limited funding, but we thought it would last us years."

She said someone had moved branches to one side to gain access to the hollow central section, and had moved the sandbags used to secure it. A part-consumed bottle of wine was found inside the tree too.

The tree had been erected last week, and there hadn't been any issues with it until Sunday.

The tree is currently with a welder who is hoping to repair it.

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