A Santa Claus is facing the sack from a Dutch shopping centre after he smacked a young boy for pulling his beard.

Peter Hendriks hit the boy on the backside in front of dozens of shoppers in the town of Rijswijk.

Defending his actions, he said: "If I hadn't done that, he would have pulled off my beard and dozens of children would have been traumatised."

Dette er faktisk en sann historie... kilde: Ananova