A Santa shortage in Bradford has forced a businessman to sledge in a pair of last-minute recruits from Leeds to save festive celebrations at the Kirkgate Centre.

The traditional shopping centre grotto looked to be in jeopardy when an advertising campaign to find a suitable Father Christmas met with a resounding 'bah-humbug' from Bradford job seekers.

Of the handful of people who did respond, only one fitted the bill. But, after being offered the job, he decided not to take it.

After six weeks of fruitless searching, organisers finally struck lucky with two applicants from Leeds who were only too pleased to take on the £4-an-hour job.

The last-minute Santas - 66-year-old John Scotter, from Bramley, and 53-year-old Ron Cole, from Seacroft - got in touch with grotto organisers after seeing the story in a national newspaper.

Kirkgate Centre tenant Les Dutfield, who is in charge of this year's celebrations, said: "I have organised the Christmas celebrations since 1994 and have never had any problems getting a Santa. The hours can be demanding so we operate a split shift. We've had the same two Santas for a while now, but they both fell ill a few weeks ago.

"I thought there would be no problems finding a replacement, but we placed a number of adverts and the response was terrible."

Latest job figures show Bradford bucked the national trend by recording a slight rise in unemployment between July and August, from 13,103 to 13,190 - 5.6 per cent of the workforce.

Mr Dutfield, who runs a photographic shop, said: "It is amazing to think we couldn't find anyone from Bradford, especially when you think how many unemployed people there are.''

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