Elves lose £13,000 in wages
AN ARMY of elves who went the extra mile working at a sparkling Christmas event have lost £13,000 in wages.
Workers at Santa’s Cove, which took place at intu Braehead before Christmas, have been told they will only get 40 per cent of their wages for the last week they worked.
The news came in an email to those affected informing them Santa’s Cove had been liquidated.
Dublin-based firm BFK Ventures – who were behind the festive extravaganza – failed to pay 125 people their final week’s wages.
An elf, who asked not to be named, said: “We worked every hour under the sun in that final week and we’re getting paid less than half.
“We were told the casting firm had half of the money but we’re only getting 40 per cent of what we’re owed.”
Tickets for the event were priced at £20 for children and £10 for adults.
A source who is an events professional says Santa’s Cove pulled £1million in ticket sales, with 16,000 sold in the first week alone.
Graeme Miller of GBM Casting, who hired the elves on behalf of BFK, said: “We are paying over everything received from Santa’s Cove. They said they’d pay us in full but have strung us along.”
BFK boss Finbar O’Toole failed to respond to a request for comment.
He previously said they’d run into financial difficulties but would ensure those who worked were paid. THe mum of a young boy allegedly raped by a high school pupil has claimed her son is the one being treated like a criminal.
The 41-year-old slammed police, Crown Office, social work and education departments in the wake of the alleged incident in Angus last November.
The Daily Record told last month how her nine-year-old son claimed he’d been assaulted at an address close to his school.
Police arrested and charged a local 13-year-old and took witness statements from two other younger boys who were present at the house.
The teenager is due to appear in front of a Children’s Panel.
It is understood the alleged incident was filmed on an iPad by one of the youngsters who attended the same school as the victim and that an adult was present downstairs at the time.
The mum, who can’t be named for legal reasons but who we’ll call Sarah, claimed she and her son have been treated “appallingly” by the authorities.
The three boys all returned to school while her son, who we’ll call Ben, was left traumatised and forced to change primaries.
Sarah said: “Life has continued as normal for the other boys while my son is being treated like the guilty one. He’s being punished and he’s the innocent victim here. It is appalling the way we have been treated.
“He went back to school for a couple of weeks at the start of the year but was left traumatised by one of the boys involved. Everywhere he went in school the boy rubbed his nose in it and intimidated him.
“It’s just not acceptable. Why wasn’t my son protected? Why did he have to be the one who changed schools? Why are we being treated like we’re guilty of something? The system has totally let him down.”
Ben kept quiet about the alleged rape because he didn’t want to get into trouble but it came to light just before Christmas when it was discussed during a sleepover and reported.
Sarah said her son’s alleged attacker was welcomed back to his high school “as if nothing had happened”. She was horrified to bump into the boys at local shops – something that would never have happened if bail-style conditions had been laid down.
Three incidents in February and one this month have now led to Sarah facing charges for breach of the peace and assault.
One case has been dropped but three others are still live. Sarah said: “I’m just so frustrated with how we are being dealt