STAFF at a Blackburn business are feeling deflated in the run up to Christmas after knife-wielding thugs left their inflatable Santa feeling flat.

The 8ft Santa was bringing festive cheer to shoppers outside King's Cheque Cashers and Pawnbrokers in Darwen Street, Blackburn. But he was punctured with a knife.

Manager Sharon Turner, 23, said: "He was only up for two days then a customer came in to tell us he was as flat as a pancake on the floor."