Parents anger at ‘dishevelled Santa’ who didn’t even bother with shoes or a hat
A dishevelled Santa at a shopping centre has infuriated parents after he was photographed missing shoes and a hat – and complained in front of children.
The replacement Santa stepped in after another Mr Claus couldn’t appear, but families said they were still waiting more than an hour for their disappointing experience.
Rather than the traditional big black boots, this Santa opted for red socks and forgot his classic hat.
One parent said that the experience was incredibly disappointing, as even the camera to capture the moment their children met Santa was ruined – because it was ‘ broken’.
Laura Johnson, 38, took her four-year-old son Bobby to meet Father Christmas and said: ‘We had been to the previous Santa experiences at the Metrocentre and always had a great time.
‘This we paid £27.85 for two adults and a child.
‘We arrived on time but were told there could be over an hour wait – despite having pre-booked this back in November.
‘After half an hour, we got into the Winter Wonderscape part. Overall it took just over an hour to meet Santa.
‘He was wearing socks and moaning out loud asking, “How many more children do I need to see before my break?”
‘The whole experience was lacking in resources and staff. There were tables for drawing but no crayons or clean paper for children to write on.’
After outcry from parents, the Metrocentre said the ‘stand-in’ Santa is no longer working for the events company which organised the grotto event.
They said in a statement: ‘Our Santa team has had a lot of positive feedback from other visitors so we are sorry it has not been to our normal high standards.
‘As the grotto had a huge response for tickets, the event company added in additional slots and notified anyone who prebooked that there would be a wait unless they wanted to rebook for a quieter time.
‘Anyone who didn’t want to wait was given a refund.’
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