French council worker who spent eight years assembling 700,000 matchsticks into 23ft Eiffel Tower has Guinness World Record entry rejected… for using the wrong type of matches

• Richard Plaud, who is married, claims he found out his dreams had flamed out when Guinness World Records delivered their verdict
• However, he claims the judges did so without even visiting the replica

A Frenchman who spent eight years building a 23ft tall replica of the Eiffel Tower out of match sticks has seen his dreams go up in smoke – because he used a brand that can’t be bought from stores.

Richard Plaud claims he found out his dreams had flamed out when Guinness World Records delivered their verdict without even visiting the replica.

And the ruling organisation says the 706,900 sticks the 47-year-old used were not commercially available and had been changed beyond recognition from their original form – meaning they could not take his attempt.

Council-worker Mr Plaud, who is married, raged against the decision – horrified that his patriotic project had met its match against record-breaking bureaucracy.

‘It’s disappointing, frustrating, incomprehensible and not very fair play,’ he told The Times.

He had hoped Guinness would take pity with him, but he was left devastated when they refused. ‘It’s part of the dream that has escaped,’ he told the broadsheet. 

In a furious post on social media, he added: ‘Tell me how 706,900 sticks stuck one by one are not matches.

‘My matchstick tower still stands and will be 7.19 meters for a long time.’

Mr Plaud, who works in the artworks and bridges department of the Charent-Maritime departement council in southwest France, finally completed his project on December 27, the 100th anniversary of the death of the original tower’s engineer.

He created 402 panels from the matches, which he then built into the huge structure.

The amazing tower would have dwarfed the current record for the tallest matchstick sculpture ever, which is held by Lebanese craftsman Toufic Daher, who created a 6.53 meter tall model of the Eiffel Tower in 2009.

Mr Plaud, who has loved making models since he was eight, had originally bought matches in supermarkets to build the structure.

But his arduous plans to win the Guinness World Record fell away when he decided the process was too ‘fastidious’ – and instead persuaded French matchstick maker Flam’Up to supply him with huge boxes of filled with 190,000 headless matches. 

The model-maker, who also used to cut off the heads of the matches before he was supplied them in bulk, was told the heads had to be scratched off for his attempt to be valid.

He faced down technical difficulties along the way, telling Le Parisien that he had to make some ‘fairly complex calculations’ to make sure the legs of the tower would support its weight.

He estimated that he had poured 4,200 hours of his time into the project since he started in December 2015. 

Speaking to a local television station before his record breaking attempt, Mr Plaud’s wife Sandra spoke of her hope that after more than 20 years of dreaming he would finally be successful.

‘That way, I will be able to get my living room back,’ she laughed.