Across the water in Great Britain, a mobile Santa's grotto in Ceredigion, Wales has come to a halt after 30 years because of health and safety concerns. Santa had toured Lampeter and the surrounding villages on the back of a trailer since 1977, but there are now worries that it is too dangerous. Lampeter Rotary Club, which runs the grotto, said it was concerned about children's health and safety.
Rotary Club secretary Idris Williams said, "When we go out in the evenings it's dark and children just tend to look for father Christmas and could miss traffic or other dangers. We have public liability insurance, but if something should happen it would be terrible. Especially at Christmas."
In other Santa based news this month, his visit to the Black Country in England, which had faced cancellation, actually went ahead thanks to a special safety feature - a seatbelt on his sleigh. Without the belt, insurance costs would have been prohibitive for the organisers, Halesowen and Rowley Regis Rotary Club. They decided to fit the special belt to his Land Rover towed sleigh to prevent the portly gentleman from falling out and injuring himself.
The Christmas reprieve came as it was announced the traditional sleigh trip around the market town of Alnwick in Northumberland on a council trailer - which has run for 30 years - had been changed to a less glamorous, and largely unfestive, bus ride because of insurance problems.
