A man dressed as an elf offered to wrap Christmas presents for charity in Watford Market while allegedly high on an assortment of drugs, including two Class A substances.

Sam Briggs, who describes himself as "a comedy article writer and professional fat man" uploaded a video of the experience, entitled "Drugs at Work" to YouTube last week.

The video has since become an internet hit and attracted more than 320,000 views.

Mr Briggs has also come under criticism from people on the social networking site Twitter, who have accused him of glamorising drugs.

The borough council, which runs Watford Market and granted Mr Briggs a stall permit, has described the stunt as "appalling".

The opening credits of the video describe how over a period of two days, Mr Briggs ran a gift-wrapping stall to raise money for charity in the market.

It goes on: "Over that period he took acid, cocaine, and ketamine. The people who allowed us to run the stall had no idea about the drugs. All money raised was genuinely for charity.

"Don’t try this yourself."

During the nine minute film, Mr Briggs can be seen wishing people a merry Christmas, as well as laughing, dancing and offering to show off "his skills" while supposedly under the influence of cocaine, the horse tranquiliser ketamine and later LSD.

After allegedly taking ketamine, Mr Briggs appears quite impaired. He asks "what have I got myself into" before repeating "Come on Briggs, hold it down."

Later in the video he claims to be "feeling a little bit wobbly" before asking "what circumstances have lead me to this point in my life?".

It goes on to explain that Mr Briggs had an "elf helper on standby" in case anyone under the age of 18 came to the stall, and the video is restricted online for adult viewing only.

However, other viewers have criticised the video on Twitter, claiming it "glamorised drug-taking to a quarter of a million people", by making the experience look attractive and exciting.

Mr Briggs replied: "I reckon its fairly common knowledge that drugs are pretty fun and exciting. They're all the rage."

Lisa Morgan, from Watford Borough Council, said: "Sam Briggs was granted permission to wrap presents at Watford Market over the Christmas period to raise money for charity. The request was approved in good faith by Watford Borough Council and Intu after receiving the relevant documents required.

"Naturally we are appalled and do not condone the actions of this person and we will be conducting a full investigation into this matter."

Watford Observer:

A similar video was uploaded in January 2013, which saw Mr Briggs take cannabis, ecstasy and magic mushrooms before standing outside Watford Library offering "safety tips".

He claims to be working for "Watford Borough" and tells people there have been a number of "slippages" in the area and to "stay alert".

A disclaimer in the video’s description states he is not affiliated with Watford Borough Council.

Hannah Georgiou, from Hertfordshire Constabulary, said: "Police are aware of the video on You Tube and have assessed its content.

“Whilst the video contains no physical evidence of drug taking to suggest a criminal offence has been committed, officers will be seeking to identify and speak to the individual captured on camera to give advice regarding the appropriateness of his videos and supportive commentary.”

The Watford Observer contacted Mr Briggs but he was unavailable for comment.