Anger over Bristol Halloween trail map vandalism

Many of the icons on the map were moved to Swindon, and others were placed in the North Sea

The creator of a Halloween display map says she is angry and frustrated after it was vandalised - with some trail points moved hundreds of miles away.

Thousands of people use the free route and Facebook map in Bristol and South Gloucestershire to find local exhibits.

Creator Tasha Marriott from Chipping Sodbury said a page member had edited the map to show displays in Swindon and as far away as the North Sea.

Moderators of the Facebook page said the map took a day to fix.

Ms Marriott added: "The icon showing my display was moved to Swindon, and some of them were put in the sea.

"The amount of time needed to move all those display listings back to their actual address was massive.

"It is not just a case of moving the icons on the map back to Bristol.

One of the displays featured on this year's trail

"Each of them is connected to an address, and has details about the display, and actually doing that on the map tool is quite difficult.

"I didn't realise when we made the map, but it turns out anyone could have edited it at any time."

More than 6,000 people have downloaded the map so far, and it features more than 100 decorated houses, window dressings and outdoor displays.

"Frustrated and angry"

"We spend hours on the map", Ms Marriott said.

"It made us feel frustrated, angry, and it's disheartening when you put hours of work into something, for someone else to come along and ruin it."

Ms Marriott added the map's permissions have now been changed to prevent anyone from playing the trick again.