VIDEO: Charity light show shut down after crowds flock to street

Simon Jones expected a trickle of around 40 people to stop by his home’s £10,000 display on Park View, Kimberworth.

But Friday evening saw hundreds flocking to his first pixel display, which was synchronised to music.

“On Friday night, there was just short of 1,000 people outside,” Simon said.

“It went mental, which is not a good thing at this moment in time, so I had to close the show down early.”

The dad of two said he believed a combination of word of mouth and children being unable to trick or treat this year had brought people out in force.

Simon, who runs an events production company, has been putting static light displays on at his home for ten years but this was his first pixel display.

“I’ve never had numbers like that before,” he said

The mass gathering attracted complaints from neighbours over traffic and the amount of people, which Simon said he could understand.

He had planned to put some crowd management tactics in place for Saturday night to stagger visitors — but a visit from the police stopped him in his tracks.

“They had a complaint to say I was encouraging gatherings — I can see their point,” Simon said.

Officers warned him that if another complaint was received he ran the risk of being slapped with a £10,000 fine for breach of Covid rules.

Simon said having to close the light show down left him feeling “gutted” for the disappointed children and upset at the money lost in charity donations.

Over the course of his five-day display, Simon raised around £600 for Rotherham Hospice, which is up from last year’s total of £150.