Giant Christmas baubles cause chaos on busy London street

Two giant Christmas baubles stopped traffic and wreaked havoc on a London street after strong winds set them free of their display.

It's two days after Halloween, so it's time for a decades-old debate. Is it too soon to start celebrating Christmas?

We still have more than a month to go until the big day, but already venues are hanging up festive decorations, there are giant boxes of chocolates, advent calendars and selection boxes in every supermarket, and the jingle of Christmas music can be heard wafting out of shop doorways.

While some people like to get cracking on the festivities as soon as possible, others like to wait at least until December to start celebrating. However, if you happened to be on Tottenham Court Road in London on 31 October, you couldn't really avoid the idea of Christmas.

In fact, there's a good possibility you could have been literally hit in the face with it.

Pixabay

Footage shared on social media paints the picture: two giant baubles, presumably from some giant festive display, start to loosen as the wind picks up alongside the Met Office's yellow weather warning for the southern coast of England.

Before long, whatever is holding them in place completely gives way, and the first bauble tears free to escape down Tottenham Court Road. Not wanting to be left behind, the second quickly follows suit.

In the clip, the first bauble can be seen rolling down the road before striking a traffic light, at which point its shiny exterior blasts away in one quick motion.

The now naked, white bauble continues on down the street, while the second one pursues it. A driver has to quickly swerve to avoid becoming part of the display, and the second bauble careers quickly down the middle of the road.

@Teeblund/TikTok

Thankfully both baubles did come to a halt after a while, but not without blocking the road and causing drivers to hit their brakes, with taxis, cars and cyclists all looking on baffled.

It's unclear exactly where the baubles came from, or who dealt with them after they escaped, but the scene provided entertainment for hundreds of viewers watching safely from behind their phone screens, with no risk of being squashed.

Responding to the video on Twitter, one person wrote: "As if we haven't got enough problems, giant festive baubles have taken over London."

Hopefully the chaotic scene isn't a sign of things to come this Christmas!