The spirit of Scrooge is alive and well in Mexico - Santa Claus has been banned from the streets of the city of Monterrey.

The city authorities have threatened to prosecute anyone walking the streets and dressed up in a red and white furry suit and a long beard.

Scrooge, the character from a Charles Dickens novel who refused to participate in Christmas, would no doubt have approved of the move by the Monterrey city council to keep St Nicholas off the streets.

The council's commercial director, Rudolfo Villarreal, has said that anyone dressed in the familiar Santa colours and carrying a sack would be prosecuted and their sleigh and presents confiscated.

Santa glut

The reason, according to Senor Villarreal: local businesses have been complaining that the thousands of street Santas who flood the commercial district each year take customers away from their own legitimate operations.

The move is likely to have a dramatic effect on the Mexicans who work in the grey economy.

Some 40 million officially unemployed people survive on what they can make from their unofficial street businesses and many of them dress up to make the most of the annual Christmas spending spree.