Stuart Anderson, sales manager at Barnshaws explains: "I must admit we were surprised to get the call this close to Christmas, the sleigh runners have to cope with all sorts of terrain and Santa wanted to lighten the material as the sleigh is quite an old design using solid steel runners that have to be painted every year.

"Our first thought was aluminium, since it is light and reasonably corrosion resistant, having done some stress analysis though we determined the loads were too high. Mild steel tube was out of the question as that was what we were replacing and the corrosion aspect meant lots of painting and maintenance still. He is quite forward thinking and after some discussion we decided on a silk finish thick-wall stainless steel tube.

"We sourced the stainless steel tube, made the precise bends to match Santa's instructions and finished the ends for him, by scanning the angles in and using a CNC controlled cold metal bending machine to make sure both runners were perfectly matched. We then called Santa to inspect the work. He was happy with the advice and the fast turnaround, especially this close to the big day."