Santa Claus has successfully completed yet another Christmas gift drive, but not before a major scare over Adelaide almost derailed his plans and the dreams of millions of children.

A spokesman for Mr Claus told The New Daily the bearded gift-giver had successfully completed deliveries throughout New Zealand, before developing mechanical troubles over the Tasman en route to Australia.

“He called into Sydney just after midnight in the hope of getting some help, but the whole place was shut,” said Alf Little, operations manager at the North Pole.

Mr Little said Santa resumed his gift drop-offs on less than full power and managed to complete all deliveries along the eastern seaboard and across Tasmania before heading west to South Australia.

“That’s when the real problems started,” Mr Little said. “We had a major power failure because his renewables (reindeer) were severely depleted by that stage.

“We lost Dasher, Dancer and Prancer for the best part of an hour and , Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen weren’t too flash either.

“Thank goodness for Rudolph who stayed strong throughout.”

Mr Claus was forced to put down his sleigh over the eastern Adelaide suburb of Burnside about 2 am.

“Santa was able to flag down a motorist who found some feed for the reindeer and that got them going again,” Mr Little said. “The man is a hero. Without him there may not have been a Christmas.”

Despite the glitch, Santa agents around the world reported 100 per cent deliverability success.

Footnote: The editors and staff of The New Daily wish to thank all our subscribers for their continued support. We’ll be back with our regular morning email tomorrow. Have a great Christmas Day.

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