‘Bad Santa’ comes to Gordon Rigg

‘Bad Santa’ comes to Gordon Riggs?

Children and parents were left distressed and angry yesterday, (16 December) after an incident in which an autistic child who was seen throwing gravel was shouted at by the store’s Santa.

The incident took place at Gordon Rigg Garden Centre in Kingsway.

Loretta Traynor, whose nephew Malakai went to the store with his parents to see Santa for the first time, and witnessed the incident, told Rochdale Online that the incident had left children "in tears" and resulted in Santa saying: “I ******* quit,” before walking out of the store.

We understand that the parents involved were given a refund by management.

Ms Traynor later described the employee as: “The worst Santa ever known... he has ruined their Christmas and their innocence.”

Robert Pinnington, the Assistant Manager at the Rochdale store, who was not present at the time, confirmed that Santa had walked out after the incident and had worked at the site for 4-5 years without any problems. He could not say whether or not the employee would be returning to his seasonal job at the store.

He said that he understood that stones were thrown at a window but this had not been confirmed by the CCTV footage.

“Thousands of children have visited Santa over the years and there has never been any previous problems. It seems to be a one-off situation.

"I have not spoken to the employee personally but did see him later when he came in to see a senior manager and he was clearly distressed and shaken.

"We are investigating the matter and apologise to any children or parents who may have witnessed or been upset by this.”