Three fire engines called to remove Santa hat from Cambridge college roof

Students had fastened the red hat to the spire of the Gate of Humility at Gonville and Caius College as an end of term prank.

But college authorities failed to see the funny side and phoned the fire brigade to remove the object from the top of the 60ft building, in case it fell on someone's head.

A team of at least 10 firemen, together with three fire engines, spent more than an hour using a hydraulic platform to get the hat down.



"When we saw three fire engines turn up we thought they must be there to tackle a really big fire," said a local shopkeeper.

"We couldn't believe it when we discovered they were all there just to rescue a Santa hat. They used the hydraulic platform to reach it and took a long time. Quite a crowd gathered to watch."

An unnamed student, who saw the incident, added: "I watched it all and found it hilarious." It is also not known how anyone managed to scale the buildings, particularly the spire of Humility, which is thought to be impossible to climb.