Oxford Street pedestrianised 55 years after Santa Claus protest

At exactly 11am, as the traffic lights turned red, the group threw themselves on to the street.

“The girl [with the pram] set off across the road and two heavies grabbed the padlocks and launched themselves at the traffic light poles to lock the chain across the highway,” John wrote.

Lizzie says she was “delighted” when the chain suddenly appeared from the pram.

But the attempt lasted only moments.

“Policemen rugby-tackled everyone in sight,” John wrote. “The chain was hauled away, the lights went back to green and it was all over.”

John was marched to a waiting police bus. “I was to face a charge of obstruction, based on my having waved a pole with balloons attached to the danger of passers-by,” he recalled.

He described the charge as something of an “over description,” but he didn’t contest it and he was fined £2 with an additional £2 in costs.

Lizzie admits the protest was short-lived, but says “the success, I think, came with the amount of publicity we got”.

“The publicity that went on about Santa Claus getting arrested at Christmastime was just brilliant.”

Lizzie avoided arrest but watched as her husband was taken away. Looking on from outside the police bus, she told a passer-by: “I’d love to go with them but Helen’s at home teething.”

More than half a century later, the moment still raises a smile.

Helen, who was being looked after by her grandmother during the demonstration, says if her dad was walking down the street today he would be surprised at how much has changed.

“Things have got better in London, with the clean-air tax and electric vehicles, it’s just so different. He would be pleased it has been pedestrianised after everything that happened.”