'Parking Ticket Santa' spreads Christmas cash - Reuters December 22, 2005
A "Parking Ticket Santa Claus" has been spreading both cash and Christmas cheer around the English city of Birmingham.
The mystery Santa has placed Christmas cards containing 30 pounds ($A71.85) on the windscreens of drivers who have received parking tickets, The Daily Telegraph said today.
"Don't let this ticket spoil your Christmas," declares a note in each card. "Here's STG$30 to pay it off. Merry Christmas - Parking Ticket Santa".
Fourteen drivers are believed to have received gifts from the unseen Father Christmas, who has given his profession an image boost after a string of stories about "Bad Santas".
In recent days, men in Santa outfits have been accused of committing armed robbery in Germany, exposing themselves in southern England and going on a drunken rampage in New Zealand.
- Reuters