Festive neighbours decorate their homes with thousands of Christmas lights.

It has been dubbed Britain's most festive street, but the Christmas spirit appears to have deserted half of the road's inhabitants this year.

Byron Road in New Milton, Hampshire, is turned into a twinkling winter wonderland each Christmas, with an eye-popping display that attracts thousands of visitors from across the UK.

Residents in the road band together to deck their halls in luminous fairy lights and raise upwards of £70,000 for good causes.

However not is all it seems behind closed doors, with some neighbours becoming fed up with the annual event, which sees the road closed and tourists standing outside their homes snapping photos.

This year, many of the homeowners have opted against participating with the event entirely, claiming the street has become 'too big for its boots' and leaving their properties shrouded in darkness beside their illuminated neighbours'.

Adam and Sallyanne Gibson are refusing to put up lights on their house on principle after becoming fed-up with the chaos the display causes.

The couple say the event has become too big in recent years, with it being advertised on local radio stations.

Last year, I'm a Celebrity star Harry Redknapp turned on the display.

The Gibsons claim the hordes of people have previously blocked their driveway with bad parking, scratched their car and sworn at then. 

The couple, who have lived on Byron Road in the New Forest town of New Milton for 12 years, are also fed-up with the amount of litter that gets left behind by the crowds.

Their home is further down from the main row of 1980s terraced houses that are festooned with tens of thousands of lights.

Mr Gibson, 52, said: 'We used to put lights on our house but we stopped about two years ago as a point of principle really.

'It's not the lights themselves that are the problem, it's everything else that comes with it. Too many people come down here now to look at them and it just gets too congested.

'We have come home on more than one occasion and found cars parked right across our driveway. When you ask them to move they say you're being miserable and swear out you.

'We've even tried leaving cones out but people just throw them out of the way and park anyway.

'One of the worst things is that you get families go to McDonalds which is nearby and bring it here and eat it while looking at the lights.

'We often wake up in the morning and there is rubbish bags and litter everywhere. Since the light display has been advertised on local radio and the like it's just got too big.

'We appreciate it is all for charity and that's amazing, but it is getting too much now.' 





MailOnline