Crystal Palace Park: Lights show abandoned by firm in administration

The Lightopia show was supposed to be cleared away last week

A Christmas lights show has been left abandoned in Crystal Palace Park as its organisers went into administration.

The company behind Lightopia, Outreach Creative Ltd, filed for administration on 9 January.

Pictures on social media show deflated snowmen, toppled structures and ripped decorations strewn across the park.

The park's trust said it was working with the administrators "to remove remaining equipment as quickly and safely as possible".

The decorations from the event, which ran from 19 November to 2 January, were due to be taken down by Lightopia last week.

Residents are worried that children and dogs could injure themselves on metal stakes

A resident described the south-east London park as looking like "an abandoned circus", while one woman told the BBC: "I've seen someone going around the park and spray-painting very dangerous camouflage metal stakes so no-one accidentally steps on them."

Some residents have spoken of their concerns about the dangers posed to young children and pets.

'Skin taken off front leg'

One dog-walker said her pet's leg got caught on wires and metal poles from partly broken-down structures.

"My dog had all his skin taken off his front leg because of the exposed wires. We have had to pay £1,300 worth of vets' bills to get his leg sewn back up. This accident was completely avoidable."

Dogs have been caught up among electrical wires

Lightopia, which was forced to shut over a weekend in November after cracks in floodlights were deemed unsafe, described itself as "London's finest festival of lights".

It said it had the aim of "bringing a culturally rich, highly entertaining and immersive experience to everyone, every Christmas".

Lightopia's festive lights were also put up in Manchester, Alton Towers and Brussels

William LoSasso, chief executive of Crystal Palace Park Trust, said he was "dismayed to learn that Outreach Creative was entering administration immediately prior to the fulfilment of their responsibilities to vacate the park".

He added: "We are urgently seeking to mitigate any impact that this unfortunate and unexpected set of events has on the park and its users and are working to quickly facilitate equipment removal.

"The trust is working with the lantern owners to remove them from the park quickly, and we will be overseeing the removal of any additional remaining equipment directly ourselves".

No date has been provided for the removal of the decorations.

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