Santa quit over grotto's PC rules He said: "It's nothing more than a cattle-herding exercise to keep the visits as short as possible so they can get as many people through the door as possible and make a lot of money. The kids are only getting about a minute in the grotto and if they ask a question which isn't in the script you are supposed to ignore them. We're not really meant to converse with the children at all. One mother likened the experience to being on a "conveyor belt." Mr Daviot was one of three Santas working at the grotto and claims he had to see up to 30 children an hour. A spokesman for Underbelly said: "Unfortunately, Mr Daviot was a Bad Santa. He decided to leave Edinburgh's Christmas of his own accord on 13 December. However, if we had continued to flout the guidelines, he would have been dismissed and sent back to Lapland. "He was given a formal warning on December 12 for contravening company "guidelines" for allowing children to sit on his knee, before choosing to resign." He said a new Santa was now on his way from Lapland and added: "Father Christmas is always very busy in his grotto and certainly so at Edinburgh's Christmas. In East Princes Street Gardens, he can see up to 30 children in an hour, which compares favourably to many grottos elsewhere in Edinburgh and the UK. Like many busy people, Father Christmas has to stick to a script sometimes to make sure he remembers what to say.