Up north in Scotland, Santa has confronted bigger problems. Every year for decades Santa Claus has ridden down every single street in Clackmannanshire, collecting money for charity. Two years ago, though, he and his elves were set upon by an expletive-shouting gang of 40 teenage thugs who hurled stones, some as big as potatoes.
"We had to kill the lights and music and speed out of the area," Douglas Richmond, one of the elves, told the BBC. "We had to get away as fast as we could. Someone could have had an eye out."
