Thousands left disappointed in Birmingham due to the New Year’s Eve fireworks hoax

Thousands of people have been left disappointed after a New Year’s Eve firework hoax in Birmingham.

Revellers crowded in the city centre after being told there would be a display when the clock struck 12.

Attendees turned up to Centenary Square believing there would food and drink stalls as well as a fireworks finale set to compete with displays from Edinburgh and London.

Despite West Midlands Police warning the general public that there was no display taking place, thousands still came out for the event.

@sherways #birmingham #brum #newyear #fireworks #uk ♬ original sound – 🤍🤍

Footage of the false spectacle has been shared across social media, showing the disappointment people faced when they counted down for 10, just to be faced with nothing.

In one video shared to TikTok, captioned: “Birmingham pranked us”, hundreds of Brummies can be seen celebrating the New Year with their phones in hand ready for the display, before moments later figuring out the expected fireworks event was fake

However, once realising there was no show to be had, people still seemed in good spirits, cheering a further away display.

Talking about the hoax prior to New Year’s Eve, West Midlands Police’s Facebook page posted a statement from Superintendent Emlyn Richards stating: “There are rumours online that a fireworks display will take place in Centenary Square but there isn’t a planned event this year.”

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However, it wasn’t just social media users which were fooled by the false fireworks event, the railway service CrossCountry was amongst many to promote the firework display set on the 31st December.

According to the Daily Mail, a CrossCountry spokesperson responded to their contribution to the hoax, saying: “We use a third-party provider to write blog posts for our website. Information is taken from a range of sources, and the content of blog posts is not AI generated.”

Featured image via TikTok