Vancouver bus-driver gets small win in growing battle against Santa

Pity the plight of poor Santa Claus in the 21st Century. Old Saint Nick's largely been stripped of his religious meaning to become a much more sanitized symbol of holiday merry-making and a vehicle for commerce.

With all that, Santa carries on as a harmless avatar of good cheer, welcome almost everywhere. Except behind the wheel of a Vancouver transit bus, apparently.

Kirk Rockwell, a veteran driver for the Coast Mountain Bus Co., was in a fight with his bosses over a longstanding tradition to dress up as Santa during the Christmas season. And it took a massive public outcry for them to have a change of heart.

Rockwell, 52, has been doing it for 16 years with the company's blessing. Seeing Santa behind the wheel brings a smile to harried riders' faces and takes of a little of the tension out of the Christmas rush.

But this year was different.

When he submitted his request as usual for permission to wear his costume, he got a letter back in early December turning him down.

[ Related: 'Santa Claus is Canadian,' Justin Trudeau says ]

“This is the first year I’ve ever had a problem with the company,” Rockwell told Global TV.

The issue seemed headed for a confrontation until a last-minute climb-down Thursday by the transit company following a public outcry and the potential other drivers might follow suit, so to speak.

Rockwell apparently ran afoul of changes to Coast Mountain's uniform policy, which was revised about a year ago.

“Operators need to be identifiable to the public for a variety of reasons, one would include their personal safety," company spokesman Derek Zabel told Global News.

"We had numerous requests from operators to change their uniform to support various causes and charities. By having this uniform policy, it makes it consistent for everybody.”

Rockwell is free to wear a Santa hat or a festive tie, said Zabel, just not the whole rig.

CAW 111 local president Nathan Woods also said the company rejected Rockwell's request because riders wouldn't be able to identify him as a transit operator and because the costume covered up part of the fare box.

The policy is sensible on one level. It creates an image of professionalism, though not necessarily respect, given the frequency drivers are abused or even physically assaulted.

It's not as if drivers were previously able to dress up any way they chose, though it might be amusing to wonder if the next time you get on the bus the driver might be Darth Vader or Batman. Operators had to apply for a uniform variance for special occasions such as Halloween.

Woods pointed out the disarming nature of Rockwell's Santa guise.

“Kirk will be the first to tell you – he’s never had a fare dispute while wearing a Santa suit," the union leader told Global TV. "He’s never gotten into a fight or had to deal with a belligerent passenger."

There are, it turns out, other places Santa's not welcome, such as refugee detention centres in Britain.

The Guardian reported in 2009 guards barred Father Christmas from delivering presents collected by a local church group for children in a facility for asylum seekers.

A senior Anglican cleric dressed as St. Nicholas was attempting to bless the gifts when angry security guards at the privately run Yari Woods immigration removal centre called police.

"In a red robe and long white beard, clutching a bishop's mitre and crook, St Nick – in real life, the Rev Canon James Rosenthal, a world authority on St Nicholas of Myra, the inspiration for Father Christmas – gently protested that he was not a security threat, but to no avail," the Guardian reported.

"St Nick has never been turned away from anywhere before," Rosenthal said. "So I was extremely disappointed not to be able to hand deliver the gifts to the children detained at Yarl's Wood. I hope the kids realize that they will be firmly in my prayers."

The British Home office, which oversees the operation, told the Guardian only people who undergo stringent security checks can be allowed into the detention centre. No exceptions, even for Santa.

Britain's notoriously picky health-and-safety rules have also prevented many Santas from dandling young children on their knees, the Express and Star reported earlier this month.

Safe Network, jointly run by two major British child-protection organizations, advocates a strictly hands-off approach when kids visit Santa in his "grotto."

"The arrangements must be such that there cannot be any possibility of Santa being placed in unaccompanied ‘one-to-one’ contact with a child in a ‘private’ place such as a grotto," Safe Network says on its web site.

"It is recommended that children are given the option to stand when talking to Santa or sit on a seat placed along-side Santa – this is common practice in many grottos across the country."

It does say if children ask to sit on Santa's knee, it should be allowed with a parent's permission.

The policy has been adopted by a number of stores hosting Santa, which disappointed some parents.

“I was quite taken aback," Sally Walmsley of Wolverhampton, mother of an 11-month-old daughter, told the Express and Star after encountering the policy at a store. "If I, as a parent, am happy to allow Santa to hold her then what’s the problem?

"I remember sitting on Father Christmas’ knee as a little girl, and it seems such a shame my daughter won’t get to do the same because of bizarre health and safety rules.”

[ Related: Mayor Rob Ford upstages Santa Claus at Etobicoke parade ]

Well, at least Walmsley's daughter got to meet Santa. Parents at a British primary school were infuriated when a local vicar debunked Santa to an auditorium of students aged five to 11.

According to the Telegraph, Rev. Simon Tatton-Brown explained that Father Christmas was based on a grisly legend of St. Nicholas, who brought three murdered and dismembered children back to life.

The Anglican priest has since apologized, saying he didn't set out to undermine the Santa myth.

"I talked about St Nicholas, and the stories about him, which tells us why Santa Claus brings gifts at Christmas," Tatton-Brown wrote in a letter to the school. "I am sorry if this was misunderstood."

Back in Vancouver, bus-driving Santa Rockwell vowed to defy the ban and risk a reprimand. But he won't have to.

CKNW reported Thursday that Coast Mountain has apparently had a change of heart. Vice-president Stan Sierpina told open talk-show host Bill Good the big public outcry had triggered. Other drivers had also threatened they'd wear Santa suits in solidarity.