To say that it was busy on the carpark of Famiflora garden centre in Mouscron (Hainaut Province) on Saturday morning is something of an understatement. The garden centre that was set up by two West Flemings had 3,000 Christmas trees it had planned to give away to during the course of the weekend. However, all 3,000 trees had already been claimed after just half an hour on Saturday morning.
Wallonia
Video: Garden centre gives away 3,000 Christmas trees in just half an hour
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The decision to give away the Christmas came after the police and the Judicial Authorities ordered the garden centre’s closure on Thursday. They did so as the garden centre has broken planning regulations.
Famiflora is Belgium’s largest garden centre. However, the garden centre in Mouscron has breached several planning regulations and despite having been given a year’s grace to put things right not enough has been done to rectify the situation. Consequently, the police and the Judicial Authorities visited the garden centre on Thursday and ordered its immediate closure.
The authorities say that Famiflora can reopen as soon as things have been put right. Staff that work at Famiflora can only enter the garden centre to water the plants and to feed and tend to the animals that are kept there, Famiflora’s Fabien Sobiecki told VRT News.
The closure couldn’t have come at a worst time as 3,000 Christmas tree had just been delivered. As the centre is not allowed to sell anything during its enforced closure Famiflora decided to give the trees away. Fabien Sobiecki told VRT News that he would rather do that than let them go to waste.