SANTA Claus will be making a pre-Christmas appearance before magistrates in Bury following his arrest at the weekend.
Father Christmas was collared by police after making an unwanted appearance on the pitch at Bury's Gigg Lane during Saturday's derby clash with Rochdale.
A number of Rochdale supporters had gone to the match dressed in Santa outfits. After Rochdale scored the first goal, one of their supporters is alleged to have run onto the pitch dressed as Santa Claus where stewards detained him, and handed him over to police.
Inspector Steve Clark, who was in charge of the policing of the game, said: "We checked to make sure it wasn't the real Santa before formally arresting the imposter. If it had been the real one, we would have let him off with a warning."
A 17-year-old youth from Rochdale has since been charged with encroaching on to the playing area and will appear before Bury Magistrates' Youth Court tomorrow.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article