AN investigation has been launched after a Christmas tree mounted above a towncentre shopfront fell and hit a teenage girl on the head.

The tree and a decorative lantern had been fixed above the entrance to New Look’s clothes store in Lion Walk, Colchester .

With the wind gusting yesterday, they came loose at about 1.30pm and hit the shopper.

Shop staff took the girl inside to check her over, but she did not need medical treatment.

Awitness, who asked not to be named, said: “I was waiting a few feet away for my wife.

“The girl and her family walked out of New Look and I heard this bang.

“I looked around and the whole thing fell and hit her on the head.

“She seemed more shocked and embarrassed than hurt, but she was holding her head and crying.

“It had come clean out of its wall plugs.

“When I looked around at similar lanterns, a lot of them were loose and damaged from the high winds we have had over the past fewweeks.”

Lion Walk Shopping Centre is investigating the incident.

Colchester Council officials will also visit the premises to see if any further action is necessary.

A spokesman for New Look said: “The young woman was unharmed and staff acted quickly.

They took her inside, where she was asked if she needed medical attention. This wasn’t deemed necessary.

“The decoration belongs to the Lion Walk Shopping Centre and it is carrying out an investigation.”

It is not the first time decorations have caused controversy in Colchester. In 2006, Christmas lights fell from shops in the High Street.

The incident caused a national change to the rules governing street decorations, with councils forced to carry out structural checks on buildings and lamp posts used to hold decorations.