Father Christmas and his helper are facing drink driving charges after they careered round a Polish town in a sleigh and smashed into a brick wall.

The 51-year-old Santa actor and his 31-year-old female helper lost control of their horse in the middle of a market in a busy high street of Ustrzykach Dolnych.

Police say they are looking at pressing charges against the pair, who were supposed to be greeting children anxious to prove how ‘nice’ they had been this year.

The pair had been singing carols and waving at passers-by when a passing car beeped at them.

The noise startled their horse, which reared up, sending them flying into the road.

The pair were taken to local hospital suffering from concussion.

Police spokesman Dorota Glazowska said: ‘Technically, they were drunk while in charge of a vehicle on the road.’

 Անկախ