The Court of Appeal recently had to consider the awkward (at least at this time of year) question of whether Santa and one of his helpers were guilty of negligence. The case of Dufosse-v-Melbry Events Ltd concerned a visit by an elderly grandmother and five members of her family to Santa’s Grotto at a well known department store in London.
The grotto was operated by two people “Santa” and an elf. The elf’s job was to escort visitors in and out of the grotto and to ensure that everything ran smoothly. Meanwhile Santa’s responsibility was to check between each visit that there was no danger.
Unfortunately with eight people in a comparatively small and dimly lit space (made even smaller by the presence of toys and two Christmas trees) the elf requested the claimant to step sideways and backwards so that she was out of range of a camera. In doing so she unfortunately stepped on a plastic icicle and/or a Christmas bauble and having lost her balance fell and injured herself.
The court decided that although generally the system which Santa and the elf were supposed to follow was a good one on this particular occasion they had not been as careful in the taking of precautions as they should have been.
It is only to be hoped that a suitably chastened Santa will still be able to travel the globe at breakneck speed on Christmas night to deliver all the presents.
