Santa's sleigh in 'urgent' need of parking place

The sleigh helps raise money for charity

A charity is "urgently" looking for a place to park Santa's sleigh ahead of the festive season.

Grantham Lions said they previously stored the sleigh – which is used for fundraising events – in a Lincolnshire County Council depot, but the arrangement ended in July.

The sleigh, which measures 20ft (6m) by 6ft (1.8m), is temporarily being kept on a farm, but the Lions need a secure, undercover facility with an electricity supply to charge it.

Councillor Rob Gibson, the council's deputy leader, said the agreement to keep the sleigh in the council depot had been arranged under the previous Conservative administration and they had not been asked to find alternative arrangements.

Mr Marshall said if accommodation cannot be found "it [the sleigh] will stand outside and then unfortunately it gets wet"

The Lions could approach him for support if they were struggling, Gibson added.

Phil Marshall, 65, the Lions' club secretary, said: "We need to get the sleigh somewhere undercover where we can go and work on it, so we can set up the speakers and make sure everything's running correctly."

The charity is hoping to find a new home for the sleigh and its towing vehicle ahead of their Santa Sleigh Run in early December.

Without one, Mr Marshall said the sleigh would stand outside and get wet. The volunteers would also struggle to charge the batteries, which power the light and sound system.

Mr Marshall added: "It saves us a lot of time if we can house both the sleigh and towing vehicle at one location.

"Otherwise we have to decouple the sleigh at the end of each night."

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