Organisers of the festive parade were forced by drunk thugs to abandon Santa’s sleigh. They threatened to punch Santa during an attack in front families.
Sittingbourne’s residents had enjoyed the annual Sittingbourne sleigh rides, in which Santa and his entourage march through various roads. Then, chaos struck.
A gang of men jumped onto the sleigh, threatened Father Christmas and then tore a permit badge that was pinned to the chest a volunteer female at 7:15 on Monday.
Danielle Hoynes is the chair of the Sittingbourne Christmas Lights Committee. She said that the Sittingbourne Christmas Lights Committee had seen a group of “very unpleasant drunks” who were’stalking the sleigh throughout the evening.
After a group drunken thugs got on Santa’s sleigh, and threatened to punch him, the organizers of Sittinbourne’s Christmas Parade were forced to cancel it. (Stock image)
She claimed that half-way through the course, one of them leapt on the sleigh to threaten Santa.
“All three of them were then hiding behind a van, which was just around the corner.
“They came out of the car as we were passing and shouted “Hello Santa”!”
“I believe they were following our route online as it’s quiet and not obvious.
“We were forced to cancel the remainder of the round due to harassment. This disappointed a lot children.”
The organiser said the incident was reported to police and has now appealed for those with any video footage to come forward to help with their investigations.
According to some reports, the gang planned their route from the social media-published routes.
After the rider was seated, the sleigh would travel along six streets until it came to an abrupt halt by the attackers.
Sittingbourne Christmas Lights & Sleigh Rounds organizes the event. Santa Claus and his entourage usually drive by homes and shops to greet children.
Santa used before the pandemic to distribute sweets to children, but that practice was stopped after coronavirus precautions.
Sittingbourne Christmas Lights & Sleigh Rounds cancelled the event and are now reviewing it
This team raises money to pay for operating costs, Christmas lights switching on event and residential Christmas lights competition.
The organisers are hopeful that the round will continue despite the incident. However, they would like to have more security in place.
Ms. Hoynes stated that they will be reviewing whether the route can continue for the next few weeks to determine if it’s safe and to look at what we can do to prevent people such as this from ruining the community’s future.
“Thankfully, nobody was injured. Just shaken. With extra safety precautions in place, we hope to keep the round going.
MailOnline reached Kent Police to get their comment.