If Del Boy and Rodney were living in Nelson Mandella House, they’d call the council plonkers for switching off festive lights.
Of course we all know that Whitemead House in Ashton, Bristol doubled as the Nelson Mandela House tower block in Only Fools and Horses. Residents talked about the Bristol City Council being 42 carat plonkers as they switched off the festive lights early.
Tenants have put up lights for 23 years at Whitemead House in Ashton, Bristol — which doubled as the Nelson Mandela House tower block in the BBC comedy series.
This year they installed a tree, bells and a “Merry Christmas” sign. But council electricians pulled the plug after labelling the display a health and safety risk.
Tenant Shirley Bush, 76, said: “We pay for them but the council have just come and turned them off without any consultation. If Del Boy and Rodney were here, they’d call the council plonkers.”
A Bristol City Council spokesman said: “You might be interested to know why the council temporarily switched off the lights while it worked to resolve safety issues. A waterproof socket outside the flats had been left open to the rain by a timer which had been plugged in, two sets of Christmas lights were wired directly into two ceiling circuits which our electrician believed could blow the lights in both the blocks, and wall-sockets were overloaded with multiple sets of plugs. Residents had ignored a letter sent two months earlier asking them to check to get a qualified electrician to check their lights before installing them. They ignored this. Bristol City Council has no desire at all to interfere with celebrations. Unfortunately, fires don’t stop at Christmas and we would be failing to look after all our residents if we didn’t act on genuine safety concerns. We have electricians working now to get the lights back on and we hope they will be back on very shortly”.
