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A furious mum claims a Sports Direct worker has ruined Christmas for her children after telling her son that Santa Claus was dead.

The employee in Basingstoke, Hampshire, then allegedly told Lucy Blake's eight-year-old son where Father Christmas' bones were buried.

Ms Blake said her "disturbed" son Googled "is Santa dead" and repeated the employee's cruel words to his younger sisters, aged four and six.

She called the worker a "Grinch" and accused him of nearly robbing her son's "last few precious years of truly believing in magic and miracles".

And she has hit out at Sports Direct and called on it to teach its staff how not to "make a child's world come crashing down", the Mirror Online reports.

Ms Blake described the alleged incident in a rant on Facebook.

(Image: Alex Hannam)

She posted a message on the company's Facebook page, and later claimed it was deleted by the firm so other customers couldn't see it.

She said her son visited the store with his father on Saturday to shop for sports clothes.

Ms Blake wrote: "I'm genuinely sad to write this. I wish on this busy shopping weekend my only gripe would be a badly packed shopping bag or a incorrectly sized item on the wrong hanger.

"But no. Today a soccer sport team member/Grinch almost stole Christmas."

She added: "My eight-year-old son was in your Basingstoke store today and was told that Father Christmas is dead by one of your members of staff serving him and his dad.

"My husband was horrified and quickly said 'no he’s not you’ve got that wrong', your member of staff continued to say 'yes he is, don’t you know your history?'

"Again my husband tried to brush him off before the cashier then went on to say more of the same rubbish but this time adding where Father Christmas’s bones were buried. You couldn’t make it up.

"My son is really disturbed by this thought and the first thing he did was tell me and his sisters who are four and six what had been told to him."

Ms Blake now expects her son to tell his school friends that "Father Christmas is dead" even though they have tried to tell him that the worker was "just being silly".

She said: "I have already caught him Googling 'is Santa dead' -my heart skipped a beat at the thought of what he was about to come across Googling things like that.

"You see, Sports Direct, childhood is very precious and the magic of Christmas, no matter what your beliefs are, are exactly that - magic.

"But magic appears in a puff of smoke and disappears just as quickly. Today your member of staff may have stolen a precious piece of my son's childhood with the wisdom he felt the need to share whilst scanning sports clothes.

"He very nearly took my little boy's last few precious years of truly believing in magic and miracles."

But Ms Blake vowed that the "magic will never die in our home" and hopes that her son will eventually forget the alleged remarks from a "silly man that knows nothing".

She suggested Sports Direct provide training for its staff.

She added: "Other families might not have our approach to Christmas or other special occasions so perhaps a bit of festive staff training or just general understanding of what might make a child’s world come crashing down is in order to stop your staff from ruining Christmas for little believers, especially when a disturbed parent is desperately trying to stop what is being said.

"Ultimately Christmas is a time for goodwill so on that note we wish your worker a very Merry Christmas and hope that Santa doesn’t forget him Christmas Day."

Ms Blake later said that her post was deleted from Sports Direct's Facebook page.

She shared a screen grab stating: "Your comment was marked as spam. Only you and SportsDirect.com can see this comment."

Her post has been shared more than 350 times, with fellow parents expressing anger over her claims.

One user wrote: "This is awful and I really hope that your son is able to forget."

Another added: "This is appalling! I’m sure it is only one inconsiderate worker and not Sports Direct’s policy to crush the magic of Christmas. Let’s hope that they deal with this quickly to prevent it happening again."

And one posted: "That’s awful, bad customer service to a new level."

Mirror Online has contacted Sports Direct for comment.