WHILE others may have gone Christmas crackers buying festive decorations to light up their street, a dad is turning heads with a giant Santa mobile - all for the princely sum of £10.

Dave Pike, a father of five, of Nightingale Avenue, Eastleigh, built the 16-foot-high Santa statue, complete with its very own chimney, in just a day with the help of two of his children.

The festive figure, which stands in the front garden, even rotates in the chimney thanks to the motor from a car windscreen wiper.

Dave said his children, nine-year-old Jack and Roseanne,11, were the brains behind the majestic model.

He said: "They did the sketches and said exactly what they'd like and then we made it together in the back garden."

Once completed, it would not fit through the gate, and Dave had to call on five neighbours to lift it over the fence.

Santa's bulging belly was stuffed with bin bags and local joinery firm Howdens donated plywood for the chimney.

Wife Sherrie said: "Jack even had to sacrifice his Wellington boots so we could put them on Santa."