They say Christmas starts earlier each year.

And the people of Worcester Park would surely agree after the area's festive illuminations were switched on last night in mid-June.

Ironically, the tree lights remained off throughout the the Christmas period as "technical difficulties" dimmed the town's yuletide spirit.

But the town-centre illuminations - paid for by Sutton Council - have finally begun to sparkle a mere six months late - or early, depending on your perspective.

The unseasonal sight in Central Road has raised eyebrows among locals.

Richard Johnson, a member of the Worcester Park Residents' Association (WPRA) who noticed the lights were on at about 10.30pm yesterday, said: “I saw the exact same set of lights switched off during the Christmas period last year.

“Switching on Christmas lights should be such a routine, mundane and easy thing to do, so why can’t we get this right? It’s truly bizarre."

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Simon Densley, WPRA chairman, said: “There was quite a lot of public outcry about it over Christmas.

“We always seem to have major problems with the lights in Worcester Park, and the previous year was really abysmal.

“In other places around Sutton they seem to get this stuff right, and we just don’t seem to ever sort it out.

“It’s just all a bit odd that the lights were on last night, and it sadly shows that the problem still hasn’t been sorted out 100 per cent.”

The council's Christmas lights in Worcester Park and North Cheam were plagued by technical problems last year and in 2014, according to Mr Densley.

He said multiple sets of lights were off throughout the festive period and sockets from the lights were left hanging from trees.

Mr Johnson added: "It has been appalling for the last few years, and seeing men fixing up lights at the very last minute while everyone gathers to see them is a really head-scratching moment.”

The council spent £20,840 on lights in Worcester Park and North Cheam.

The budget included £960 for replacing faulty lights in Central Road.

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Cllr Richard Marston, chairman of the council's Cheam North and Worcester Park Local Committee, said: “The council and councillors worked closely with the Worcester Park traders association to try to ensure that any issues that had happened in previous years didn’t happen again.

“And this did actually iron out a lot of the problems. We have had a lot of positive comments about the lights as well and personally I think that they looked very good this year.

“There were undoubtedly however some issues which I know we have chatted about, on Central Road, that some lights weren’t working.

"I discussed this with the town-centre manager and they spent quite a lot of time trying to resolve what was a technical issue of some sort.

“We’ll be working again with the traders this year, and we already are.

"We’re already discussing things like that, and hopefully this year things will be better.”