Every year, the Vesperados Scooter Club holds its brilliant Santa Run from the Henry Boddington pub, in which hundreds of bikers and classic car drivers take presents to poorly children, led by a giant sleigh (see here).
This year, however, Santa and Mrs Claus, plus lots of other drivers, were handed traffic violation tickets when they strayed into a bus lane on Oxford Road, just after dropping presents in at Manchester Children's Hospital.
At first Manchester Council was branded as Scrooge when it merely stated it would review the tickets (see here). But yesterday, drivers at the Skoda Owners Club received a letter cancelling all fines and even offering to refund payments that have already been made...
"It's sure brilliant news" stated a member of the Skoda Club "They have a heart after all..."
And on that happy note, the Salford Star would like to wish all readers, especially Mr and Mrs Santa and their bikers and driver elves, a very Merry Christmas...