Around 50 young children and their parents were attending a Christmas party at a community centre in St. Ives, England when the building’s fire alarm went off, causing the event’s Santa for hire to lose his cool.
“He came changing in, ripped his hat and beard off in front of 50-odd kids and started shouting and swearing at people to leave,” one witness wrote on Facebook.
The nightmare before Christmas prompted the organisers to issue an apology, stating that the alarm has gone off at a family-friendly “rave” happening in the centre at the same time and ‘Santa Claus’ had only been trying to help.
“Santa was upstairs in his grotto… and immediately assisted in the evacuation of the building, upon hearing the fire alarm,” Festival Events St. Ives (FESt) said.
“FESt wish to apologize for any offense or distress caused to parents and children by the attempts to ensure all visitors and staff had exited the building and were safe.”
The parents weren’t buying it, however.
“We told our children he wasn’t the real Santa,” one parent told Cambridge News. “He was an imposter and will be going on the naughty list.”
Looks like St. Nick will be the one getting a lump of coal this year.
