Montrose Christmas tree vandalised for 7th year in a row
The tree could now be removed before Christmas
Last updated 28th Nov 2023
Montrose could be without a tree this Christmas after it was vandalised for a 7th year in a row.
Vandals snapped wiring for the lights on the metal tree structure in the early hours of Tuesday morning , 28th November 2023, leaving less than a third of the lights working on the tree.
Tommy Stewart, chair person of the charity Santa Claus in Montrose, the group in charge of the Angus towns tree, says the destruction is "soul destroying."
The Angus councillor says the tree may now be removed following another year of vandalism. He said: "I have had discussions with Police Scotland this morning. If they come to me and say to me that they have got a positive identification from the town's CCTV footage then we can re-look at that.
"If we don't get any identification for this then we have got no alternative and the tree will be down before Christmas. It gives me absolutely no pleasure in saying that. I am absolutely gutted."
He added: "We took over the Christmas tree in 2017 and we've had damage, vandalism to it, every single year since then. It's just soul destroying."
A local business came forward and provided extra fencing to protect the tree but that hasn't been enough to deter the vandals from damaging the tree. The Montrose and District councillor said: "The area in front of the tree that was a lower size of fence, we thought we would put a wooden construction on the front there to prevent people from climbing over the front.
"It has worked, they haven't climbed over the front. The climbed over the back this time. I don't know what more we can do. We did say at the time if we have any further damage then we would just switch the lights off and take the tree away. That's really what we're in the mind of doing now. We just can't do it any more."
He added the consistent damage is becoming a financial burden, saying: "I'm absolutely gutted. I don't want to be doing this but I don't have an other option, I really don't. We can't afford to continue to throw money at this.
"It's not our money, this is the people of the town that are donating. We go out and we do fundraising ourselves but the people of town prominently have supported us financially. It's their tree that we're putting up, we're only custodians of this."
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We received a report that the Christmas tree on High Street, Montrose was vandalised around 3.50am on Tuesday, 28 November, 2023.
“Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with any information is asked to contact 101 quoting reference 0586 of 28 November, 2023.”