The town's Christmas lights had to be taken down overs fears its flickering could trigger epileptic fits.

On Wednesday evening Loughton's new festive lights were installed on the Broadway, High Road and Old Station Road.

Despite immediately covering the town in seasonal cheer, town council officials quickly realised they could not stay.

Enid Walsh, council clerk, said: "The new motifs and wrapped columns looked lovely and we were delighted to receive compliments from residents.

"Unfortunately the contractors had made one glaring error – we had specifically asked for non-flickering lights to avoid any adverse impact on those people with photosensitive epilepsy.

"This condition affects 1 in a 100 of the population."

When alerted to the mistake Blachere Illuminations apologised for the oversight and set about fixing the problem.

The lights have now been taken down and will be re-installed later this week in time for Christmas events.