Marks and Spencer, which is setting up grottoes in nine of its stores in England for the first time, said it had taken on some teaching assistants and nursery nurses because they met its criteria that all staff had to be checked by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). Marks and Spencer spokeswoman Bella Pagdin said, 'We have got two or three teaching assistants and nursery nurses among our Santas and their helpers, but we have not specifically set out to recruit them. It is simply that they happen to have been checked by the CRB, and we wanted people who are good with children.'
She added that parents could watch their children meeting Father Christmas through a large viewing window running the length of the grotto.
Alison Berneye, director of Dreamtime Management, which supplies 300 staff to grottoes in 19 major shopping centres, including Lakeside in Thurrock and the Harlequin Centre in Watford, said that the seasonal staff had to get themselves checked by the police at a cost of 10, which was then reimbursed by the company. She added, 'We've always been very stringent about ensuring checks are carried out. We don't allow children to sit on Santa's lap. There is always a long bench so the children can sit next to him.'
Some large stores, including Hamley's and Selfridges in London's West End, no longer have grottoes. Instead they employ Father Christmases to wander around the store handing out sweets to children.
