Santa Is Left Dangling From A Roof By His Beard At A British Mall [Video]
An abseiling Santa Claus was left dangling from the roof of a mall in the English city of Reading, Berkshire, after his wire journey almost ended in disaster.
Steve Chessell, a member of the 11th Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers squadron, was looking to make an impressive entrance through the ceiling of the Broad Street Mall when he apparently lost his footing and snagged his beard in the rope.
Chessell continued to wave to the excited children below as a fellow army professional abseiled alongside him, and then cut away the entangled piece of beard so that he could plummet down to the ground.
Stephanie Maynard, the shopping centre’s manager found time to praise Santa Claus’s response after the ordeal, stating “He could have just taken his beard off and let himself down but he was such a professional and he didn’t want to let the children down.”
Thousands of people had come out to attend the soiree, with two stars of the English soap opera Coronation Street, Michelle Keegan and Chris Fountain, also present, which would see the official countdown to the holidays begin, with the ceremonial turning on of the Christmas lights at the mall.
A spokeswoman for Broad Street also revealed, “Santa was left dangling by his beard for about forty minutes before he was eventually rescued by Staff Sergeant Mark Brown and has now returned to the North Pole to prepare for Christmas.”
Shock and gasps soon turned to laughter as the situation unfolded. For those of you wanting to see how the event unfolded, you can view a video of the incident below.
