A Woodley man has shared how a joke has turned into a Christmas tradition as he dresses his car up in fairy lights for a third year.

Sergiy Viktorovich Kosynskyy, 26, an IT professional originally from Ukraine has made dressing his car up in lights an annual ritual.

Since 2021 Sergiy has undergone the five-hour ordeal of taping Christmas lights to his car, now a black BMW, in what started as a joke with his neighbour.

"Me and my next-door neighbour Michael were joking around saying we should put lights on our cars one year and I said we should do it," Sergiy said.

Through using a power convertor connected to the car's battery, Sergiy has been able to power the lights whilst on the go, beginning with taping the lights to his previous car, a VW Golf, in what became a trial and error of finding the right tape.

Hitting the road with his festive-mobile Sergiy said: "I haven't had any issues, people have always had a positive reaction to it, even the police.

"I've never been pulled over and I've had some police officers stop and take a picture.

"It’s basically a Christmas tree on wheels, the amount of people that stop to say they love it or flash me, beep me or give me a thumbs up is amazing."

Seeing the joy it brought to strangers' faces, Sergiy decided to continue decorating his car each year.

"I think this year and how things have been going since Covid - there is a lot of negativity around this time," he said,

"A lot of people lost a lot of family in the pandemic and associate Christmas with that period and sadness.

"I think it is good to be different and stand out, changing up people's days.

"It isn't every day you see a car with its lights lit up. It's amazing and can make someone's day.

"I like to think it makes an impact on some people. I definitely see an impact on the kids cause I drive past a school every morning to get to work. All the families, kids and parents absolutely love it. They stop and look and laugh and take pictures."

"I do it for the whole of December from start to finish.

"On top of the car there is actually a Christmas tree which can be seen from lorries and buses."

Next year Sergiy hopes to dress his car up for Easter and Halloween on top of Christmas 2024 which he hopes he can make even better than this year.