Wednesday December 6, 2006
LONDON (AFP) - Harrods has sacked a Father Christmas for his offensive remarks, the world-famous London department store has said.
The sinning Santa had his contract torn up after two complaints from customers visiting the Father Christmas World grotto at the store in west London's plush Knightsbridge district.
He had asked one family of South Asian origin whether they should be shopping at a less prestigious supermarket instead, Metro newspaper reported Wednesday.
He also asked in a lewd fashion whether their teenage daughter fancied staying and sitting on his knee, it said.
A Harrods spokesman told AFP the Father Christmas involved had made "inappropriate" comments to customers Monday but stressed these did not involve racial abuse.
"Harrods holds its customers and their enjoyment of the store in the very highest esteem, so having received a few complaints relating to the treatment of adult family members visiting our Christmas grotto, we promptly sought to identify the cause of the problems," the department store said.
"We were able to identify the individual in question and having investigated the complaint thoroughly we terminated his seasonal contract on Tuesday.
"There is no excuse for causing any level of complaint amongst our customers -- and even if the remarks were made in good humour, we cannot condone behaviour that offends our customers."
The free-entry grotto has six Santas operating at any one time and is a popular Yuletide tourist attraction, with 76,000 families passing through last year.
Harrods launched its Christmas World section in August. Luxury crackers are priced at 2,000 pounds (2,970 euros, 3,800 dollars) for a packet of six. :o :o :o
