Christmas tree farmers’ festive thank you to customers who went out of their way to support him despite Testos roundabout roadworks

Colin Haynes, who has run Scotts House Farm in Newcastle Road, West Boldon for more than 30 years, has thanked customers who went out of their way to offer their support.

The farmer - who usually sells thousands of trees over the festive season – had feared that his business would take a hit due to multi-million pound road improvement works at Testos roundabout, which have caused months of travel disruption.

The closures from Friday, November 29 - Monday, December 2 and Friday, December 6 - Monday, December 9, meant that Scotts House Farm and the A184 could only be accessed via Whitemare Pool.

However, despite fears that he could lose out on thousands as Christmas shoppers went elsewhere, Colin says he was amazed by how many people made the effort to buy their trees from him after hearing his story.

“The road works were terrible, they made it very difficult for people but it’s amazing how many people we got who hadn’t been to us before,” said the 52-year-old.

“I was surprised by how many people said they had made it their mission to come here after reading about the story.”

Although he estimates he lost around 150 tree sales over the two weekends Colin says things could have been much worse.

“We had about 120 trees left over and we normally don’t have any more than 50,” he continued.

“We probably did about 50% of what we did the year before, but we did better on the Monday and Friday and through the week, and our regular customers made sure they came.”

While the road was initially due to be closed entirely, Highways England previously said that they had amended the plans to ensure the road was open to all drivers and put up signs advising all businesses on the A184 were open as usual.

“I’m happy with how things have gone,” added Colin.

“I’m really grateful and would like to thank all of the people who made the effort to get here.”