By Duncan Bick

Last updated at 12:15, Tuesday, 08 January 2013

Emergency services rushed to help a man supposedly in danger on a roof only to find a large Santa decoration.

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Police, fire and the ambulance service were all called to the home of John Earl.

They went out following an emergency call from a concerned passer by who said they had seen someone on the roof who had been there for some time.

Officers arrived on the scene soon afterwards and quickly discovered it was simply a large Christmas decoration of a Santa.

They then told the three fire crews – from Brampton, Longtown and Carlisle East stations – and an ambulance which were on their way that they were not needed.

The event happened while Mr Earl, 47, of Main Street, Brampton, and his family were out, just after 3.30pm on Wednesday.

He was amused by news of the incident.

“I suppose there is an optician up the road, maybe they (the caller) was going there,” he joked.

The decoration on his roof was the result of a suggestion from his children who live with him, Ellie, 10, Georgia, eight, and six-year-old Josh.

Workmen were carrying out repairs to the house’s chimney and the youngsters suggested putting a Santa decoration where the work was going on.

Mr Earl then bought a Santa suit, filled it with plastic and placed it on the roof.

It was placed on to a plank of wooden scaffolding and tied to the chimney. “I would have thought the ‘Santa Stop Here’ sign was a bit of a giveaway,” added Mr Earl.

Eyewitnesses tweeted that police attending the scene had shouted up to the decoration asking if it was okay before they established what it was.

A police spokeswoman said: “We did receive a call at 3.30pm on January 2 from someone who was concerned as they thought a man was on the roof and had hung around for 10 minutes.

“Fire and ambulance were called but when police attended it was a pretend Santa.”

The fire and ambulance service both confirmed they had been called.

All crews were told it was a false alarm before they got to the house.

dbick@cnmedia.co.uk

First published at 10:46, Monday, 07 January 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk