Almost 200 parents and grandparents dressed as Father Christmas paid a flying visit to London. Two buses full of Santas arrived outside the Lord Chancellor's department and occupied the lobby area for a 45-minute sit-in. The group of protestors carried out their action in the latest attempt to draw public attention to the failings of the Family Courts. The group included a large number of women (second wives, grandmothers and aunts) all supporting male relatives' claims that the UK family Law system favours mothers on custody issues and divorce issues.

The protestors refused to leave the Lord Chancellor's Department until a senior civil servant Amanda Finlay CBE agreed to meet with the protesters and accept a large Christmas card bearing the image of the Lord Chancellor portrayed as Scrooge. The most senior Metropolitan Policeman called to deal with the sit-in said that he would not see his children this Christmas.

The march was arranged and sponsored by the new Fathers rights group Fathers4Justice and took place under the overall banner of the Coalition for Equal Parenting. The underlying theme of the protest was the well-documented Family Court bias towards the "resident parent" - the parent with whom the children reside after separation or divorce. In over 90% of all cases, this is the mother. Matthew Mudge, the South Wales contact for Fathers4Justice, commented: “Fathers have an uphill struggle to get an Order for Contact in the first place. In cases where the mother is determined to sabotage children’s contact with their father, you soon realise that Court Orders issued by Family Court Judges are simply not worth the paper upon which they are written. It is indeed a shock to discover that after huge expense, often running into tens of thousands of pounds, and months or even years of litigation, it all counts for nothing. Daring to ask the Court to enforce its own orders generally leads to the mother’s legal team (often legally aided) describing the father as a vexatious litigant.”

The protesters had traveled from all parts of the UK, including Scotland, Newcastle, the West Country, the Isle of Wight, the Home Counties and they were joined by a large number of dads from many parts of South Wales.

One demonstrator was visibly moved by one story from a passer-by. An elderly lady stopped to speak to her and asked her what all the fuss was about. Having explained, the elderly lady burst into tears and stated that she had not seen her grandchildren for many years for the same reasons. Their mother had stopped all forms of contact between the children and their paternal family. The old lady had often looked after the children when required, but since her son's divorce had neither received a Christmas nor birthday cards. She said “The children used to enjoy making me cards, especially for Mothering Sunday but now I receive nothing and my cards addressed to the children are returned unopened. My son hasn’t seen his own children for almost 6 years.”

Speaking to the demonstrators, many told similar tales. It was perhaps no small wonder that chants of “Children need both parents” and “Two parents are better than one” were regularly replaced by “Stuff the Family Courts” - hardly a festive greeting you might say, but then again, how would you feel if you were deliberately prevented from seeing your children at Christmas ?