SANTA Claus exchanged his trusted reindeer and his sleigh... for a motorbike at Leigh’s Christmas light switch-on.

Mike Wells, 47, of Elm Road, Leigh, joined the Christmas parade at the junction of Kings Road and Leigh Road, greeted by a sea of amazed faces, as he cruised through the streets on his Suzuki motorcycle.

Speaking about the event, Mike, the owner of Uptomen menswear in Broadway, said: “It was all for the Leigh Traders Association which we set this year in March.

“The idea came from a lady who runs the Love Independent Leigh campaign. She said to me that it would be a great idea if I just dressed up as Father Christmas and rode my bike through the parade.”

Mike, the chairman of the association, said that it was an interesting experience doing the full route for the first time.

He also had to make some modifications to his costume ahead of the event.

He said: “My head looked massive because I has to stitch two Santa hats together in order for it to go over my helmet.

“The rest of the costume I rented from a dressing up shop in Leigh. There was a group of boys on the ride who wanted to get a high five and one little girl gave me a couple of quid.

“It was very funny seeing all the faces on the children as they said; ‘oh my God it’s father Christmas on a bike’.”

The parade took an hour and 15 minutes to arrive at Leigh Broadway, and the end could not wait for Mike’s bike which had been travelling very slowly that whole time. He said: “My bike began to overheat as the trip went on, but it was a fantastic night and a lot of fun.”