A bus driver has laid his claim to have Croydon's most festive house after decking it in more than 6,000 Christmas lights in memory of his dad.

Alex Hopkinson, 33, of New Addington, gave hundreds of onlookers a bright start to the Christmas season as he switched on the lights- that he is using to raise money for charity.

About 400 New Addington residents past and present turned up to support Mr Hopkinson on Sunday who started putting up the decorations back in October.

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The house

He has spent weeks assembling the 4,000 twinkle lights, 50 figures, 200m of rope lights, and a thousand normal lights around the outside of his home, with help from an electrician friend.

The display is in memory of his dad Derek who passed away ten years ago. His dad used to deck the house with the lights - and in 1997 won a competition by ITV for having the best Christmas lights in the south east.

Mr Hopkinson supplied teas and coffees to those who attended the switch-on on Monday night, and treated them to a firework display.

He said: "There was a super vibe down there. We are doing a little competition now where whoever draws the best picture of the house can turn the lights on next year.

"We blew up a big picture of my dad onto the house which was very emotional. My family loved it and the event went pretty much perfectly so I was happy.

"All the community turned out for it and I even saw people who had moved away from the area so that was lovely."

Mr Hopkinson who is raising money for St Christopher's Hospice, with a charity box outside his home, is not the only one in the borough to have a dazzling Christmas lights display.

Georgina Amor, 19, of Morland Road, Addiscombe, has continued a ten year family tradition of putting an array of festive decorations up.

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Georgina and her dad Stephen.

This year was more of a struggle though after her dad Stephen had a major back operation in May which saw him have five discs removed and put him out of action for four months.

Despite the setback Mr Amor was determined to put the lights up with his daughter and braved the cold temperatures to make sure the lights were up by December 1.

Miss Amor said: "The main aim is make people happy and the school children really enjoy seeing it when they walk past.

"It may not look a lot compared with some mansions but the effort we have put into the lights this year is the most we ever had."

Have you seen impressive Christmas lights around the borough? Send your pictures to abloss@london.newsquest.co.uk.