A giant Santa Claus twice the height of the Angel of the North has been given the sack.
The 132ft inflatable was to have been suspended over the Mercat Shopping Centre in Kirkcaldy, overlooking the Forth.
It is claimed it would have been the biggest inflatable Father Christmas in the world, surpassing a 100ft Papai Noel mounted in Portugal in 2005.
But the bearded blow-up bigger also than the Ghostbusters’ Stay Puft Marshmallow man and the Falkirk Wheel is lying in storage in a factory in China, leaving the festive stunt stuck in the snow.
Social enterprise company Kreative Destiny also behind the disrupted Kirkcaldy Interactive Komedy Festival has severed ties with town centre promoters Kirkcaldy4All which commissioned it to bring the giant Santa to Fife.
Deflated Kirkcaldy MSP David Torrance said: ”Kreative Destiny has let a lot of people down. This would have been a huge attraction.”
Kreative Destiny blamed Kirkcaldy4All for the cancellation of the project and claimed it still owed money for the inflatable.
Spokesman Bob Carruthers said: ”We were asked to move it from the Town Square to the roof of the Mercat and this has proved completely unfeasible, so it has been frustrated.
”It’s too late now to get all the permissions for this year. We are extremely fed up about this.”
Kirkcaldy4All said it paid Kreative Destiny £18,000 for the full cost of the giant Santa in July.
Manager Bill Harvey said: ”If Kreative Destiny say this is not going ahead that is very disappointing. We are trying to the raise the profile of Kirkcaldy and bring footfall into the town.”
Kirkcaldy’s comedy festival was thrown into chaos when it was annouced at the weekend it had been cancelled midway through.
Kreative Destiny later said some gigs would still go ahead.