BOLTON'S oldest Santa -- sacked because his bosses thought he was getting past it at the age of 83 -- is back at work.

Amazing Jimmy Duffy, of Hanover Court, Greenbank Road, Deane, is back in his red coat and white beard in The Market Place at an age when most Santas have been pensioned off.

The old-age Super Santa claims he lost the job he loved in the grotto at Crompton Place two years ago after missing days on sick-leave. He had been Santa there for 12 years.

But Crompton Place bosses have strenuously denied the claim and insist they only asked him to step down because they wanted to be kind to him.

They thought the long hours were too much for a man of his age.

Manager Kevin O'Gorman said: "We didn't sack him -- you can't sack Father Christmas.

"Jimmy was excellent and always extremely reliable. "It was clear that it was getting too much for him because it's actually a very demanding job, particularly considering Jimmy's advanced years.

"The queues can seem endless and the hours we wanted from him would have been too much.

"We felt as if we were exploiting him. We told him at the time and he seemed to understand.

"He obviously didn't clearly understand what we were saying."

But Jimmy says he is over the moon that his "career" has been resurrected this Christmas by The Market Place.

Former baker Jimmy insisted he was thrown on the Santa scrap-heap by Crompton Place. "I went down with the flu two days before Christmas Eve the Christmas before last.

"Then I went back and we were talking about Christmas and different things. They asked me why I had taken time off.

"I was just told after that I was finished. They must have thought I was unreliable. "To be honest, I was upset for the children's sake."

Jimmy spent last Christmas going around children's homes and old people's homes for charity because he couldn't bear to hang up his white beard.

Now he is working in the Market Place, although he works only part-time.

Jimmy, who was originally picked from hundreds of wanna-be Santas because of his "soothing eyes", has even done stints as Father Christmas in San Francisco, America, when he was on holiday there.

The grandfather-of-two has helped to raise tens of thousands of pounds for charity and this Christmas alone he has helped to raise £1,100, to be split between Shelter, Samaritans, Vision Aid, Bolton Hospice and the Destitute Animal Shelter.

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