SANTA has been given the sack from Selfridges after asking a woman to sit on his knee.


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“I had no intention of offending her, I just wanted to include her in the moment,” said Mr Claus, who also goes by the name Andrew Mondia. “Christmas is for adults too.”

“I was just being my innocent usual self. I was shocked when they told me. I couldn’t believe I’ve been sacked for being too friendly.”

Selfridges say they told Santa not to “promote or proactively seek” lap-sitting. Mondia understood this policy to be only for children, but Selfridges say that one of his elves had repeatedly warned the bearded one over his keenness to get customers on his lap.

“Santa didn’t behave in line with his training so we acted swiftly and asked him to leave,” said a spokesperson for the Oxford Street store.

Despite Santa’s little indiscretion, this year’s Selfridges grotto has been a huge success, leading to an increase in Christmas-item sales of 40 per cent. Tickets for the grotto are all sold out, but some are made available each day on a first come, first served basis, no guarantees.