Fog fails to halt Santa’s arrival

Bad weather meant Father Christmas’s dramatic arrival by helicopter at a Telford school had to be cancelled at the last minute. But pupils at Crudgington Primary School were not left disappointed.

For alternative transport was quickly arranged and Father Christmas still managed to turn up on time and in style - sitting in a fire engine.

Check out our photo gallery above 

Excited youngsters lined the playing field to give a big warm welcome to their special visitor yesterday.

And after meeting every pupil and shaking hands, Father Christmas headed inside the school where he paid a visit to each classroom.

The helicopter ride, provided by RAF Shawbury, was called off at 12.20pm because of foggy weather.

The cancellation came just 40 minutes before Father Christmas’s scheduled arrival at the school. But thanks to some quick-thinking, RAF Shawbury officers brought out their fire engine and got Father Christmas to the school on time.

Martin Locke, squadron leader at RAF Shawbury, said: “We were very sorry to have to cancel.

“The weather was so awful, we could not do any training or flying. It was because of the fog. It was so bad.

“We appreciate the great disappointment of the children not to have the helicopter but we did the next best thing and that was to get Santa there in the fire engine.”