This is the reason there's a 'Traffic Light Tree' in the centre of London

If you're walking around Poplar towards Billingsgate Market you might notice something that, from a distance, looks a bit like a Christmas tree.

There's a mass of green 'branches' coming off a tall green pole, and there are some colour changing lights.

However, as you get closer you'll realise that this is in fact a ' traffic light tree '.

Standing at eight metres tall and with 75 sets of lights you would initially think this was a ridiculous and dangerous set of traffic lights - but in fact it is just a piece of art and not at all functional.

Situated on the Trafalgar Way roundabout, drivers were at first a little confused but soon realised that the roundabout worked in the same way as any other one does.

Artist Pierre Vivant created the sculpture after winning a competition run by the Public Art Commissions Agency, which said: "The arbitrary cycle of light changes is not supposed to mimic the seasonal rhythm of nature, but the restlessness of Canary Wharf [where the sculpture was first erected]."

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Pierre Vivant added: "The sculpture imitates the natural landscape of the adjacent London Plane Trees, while the changing pattern of the lights reveals and reflects the never ending rhythm of the surrounding domestic, financial and commercial activities."

Initially the plan was to have the lights change according to the level of activity on the London Stock Exchange, but the idea was scrapped as it was too expensive.

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