The incident occurred in Setha's Grotto, a temporary festive wooden structure sponsored this year by London Electricity plc. The grotto's multi-coloured flashing fairy-lights suddenly fused, plunging the previously sparkling scene into total darkness.
Mr S Joynter, a London Electricity employee and Setha Claus for the yuletide season, swiftly ejected Maisie Pringle, 3, from his ample lap and sprang into action. "It was amazing," commented a breathless Mr Nigel Horridge, toy-department manager. "One minute Mr Joynter was sitting there in his jolly red outfit and wellingtons. The next moment he had stripped down to his long underwear and was clambering over the swaying superstructure of the grotto shouting that he would 'fix it in a jiffy'."
Excited children squealed with delight as sparks and flashes came from above the imitation thatched inn (modelled on the Jacuzzi Arms, Bridge Street, Catford, Mr Joynter's local public house). Parents could scarcely contain their screams of admiration for Mr Joynter's pyrotechnical on-line splicing skills. The air was soon thick with the festive aromas of steaming solder, red-hot industrial glue and singed roofing-felt.
By popular acclaim a triumphant Mr Joynter was then carried shoulder-high from the building by appreciative security-staff.
LATEST at 1pm: Brigade chiefs have given the go-ahead for Oxford Street to be re-opened within the next hour. Central and Victoria line services should be back to normal by Wednesday-morning. Mr Joynter is 93.