Angry Santa refuses to pay fine after driving sleigh ‘under 2mph’ in pedestrian zone

An angry Santa was caught venting at a traffic warden who issued him a ticket for driving his makeshift sleigh through a pedestrian zone.

Mick Worrall, 75, was wearing his red and white outfit when he parked his three-wheeler bike, which pulls the sleigh, in Worcester city centre on Saturday.

He was there to hand out sweets and cuddly toys to youngsters and collecting donations for a children’s charity – but he was handed a fixed penalty notice by a traffic warden.

Pictures show the warden issuing Worrall, of Worcester, with the £60 fine outside the city’s Guildhall in the High Street.

But he refused to pay the fine told the warden to “post it to the North Pole”.

Worrall has now vowed to return to the city centre next week to continue spreading festive cheer.

He said: "I won't let the children down. I get pleasure from putting smiles on the faces of the children.

"I'm a bit disappointed – but it's not going to stop me. I've been doing it for years.

“I refused to take the ticket. I told the warden 'send it to me in the post to my address’.

"He said 'where's that?' I said 'the North Pole’.”

Worrall has raised thousands of pounds for charity dressing up as Santa and this year was collecting for New Hope Worcester Children’s Charity.

The organisation works with families who have children with disabilities and complex health care needs.

Worrall says he will go to court “dressed as Father Christmas” if it gets that far, adding: “I'm not paying a penny in fines when I'm collecting money for charity.”

The ticket was issued because Worrall was judged to be driving in a “traffic-free” zone – but he insist he had “crawled along at under 2mph” to the parking spot.

He said: ”I've done it every year and never had any problems. Last year a policeman even posed with me for pictures.

"Maybe the traffic warden was having a bad day or just being Scrooge but it was petty to say the least.”

The bizarre scenes were captured on camera by schoolboy Jake Fox, 12, from Ombersley, Worcester, while onlookers organised a whip round for Santa to cover his fine.

A Worcester City Council spokesperson said they could not comment on individual cases but confirmed the fine was issued for "driving in a pedestrian zone”.