A WOULD-be Santa Claus was sent back up the chimney at York's city centre grotto after council vetting procedures found he had criminal convictions.

The Evening Press learned that the man had applied for the part-time post as Kris Kringle at the grotto in St Sampson's Square, which is run by family firm santagrotto.com

But it was discovered he had several criminal convictions which he had failed to put on the application form, preventing him from donning the white beard and red suit.

A spokesman for City of York Council said: "As would happen with any operation involving children we worked very closely with the operators of the Christmas grotto to ensure that applicants for the part-time post of relief Santa were screened.

"This process involved a police check and, as a result of this, one candidate with convictions was rejected, although we must stress that those convictions were not related to sexual offences.

"We hope this incident shows the effectiveness and value of the screening process. This is a reputable family firm and the grotto has been a great success."

Updated: 11:09 Saturday, December 15, 2001