New Forest Lapland attracts over 1,000 complaints from angry families

3:40pm Tuesday 2nd December 2008

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By Corey Stephenson »

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ORGANISERS of the Lapland New Forest Christmas theme park were today under investigation after more than 1,300 people complained about the controversial attraction.

The surge of anger from visitors who feel they were ripped off has been described as unprecedented by trading standards officers who have visited the site near Ringwood and are studying promotional literature to see if any rules have been broken.

Animal welfare experts at the RSPCA have also launched an inquiry after receiving more than a dozen complaints about the treatment of animals at the park.

Hundreds complained after paying £30-a-head or £100 for a family of four to visit the Lapland village at the weekend.

The attraction, in Matchams Leisure Park, is due to open every day until December 24 and is thought to have already taken more than £1m in pre-booked tickets.

But last night those behind the theme park were keeping a low profile. Telephones remained unanswered and the company’s website and email addresses were out of action.

Earlier in the day Henry Mears, the event’s advertising chief, had defended the park.

“They have come in to spend four to five hours there and if they arrive at 12pm then they get to see the lights take their full effect when it gets dark,” he said.

“After the weekend it’s quite obvious that people want to see Father Christmas so we will be opening more grottos.

“We’ve had plenty of messages from people who have enjoyed it.”

After revealing the problems yesterday, the Daily Echo was overwhelmed with calls and emails from across the country from people who had travelled hundreds of miles and spent hundreds of pounds to visit the park which boasted a “breathtaking” tunnel of light leading to a “winter wonderland” with “snow-covered log cabins” surrounding an ice rink, nativity scene, and a Christmas market.

But visitors said they were met with sheds which looked like they were from B&Q, fairy lights and snow on trees and a picture pinned up on a wooden frame at the end of a muddy wasteland.

Instead of seasonal food, a circle of expensive burger vans offered refreshments and the only attraction that families did not have to pay for was the gingerbread-making factory.

Farcical scenes saw “elves”

involved in scuffles with furious parents in a “gingerbread house” and Father Christmas punched in his grotto, according to angry customers who are now demanding their money back.

One parent complained her children even stumbled across “Santa” during a smoking break at the back of his grotto.

Trading standards manager Ivan Hancock told the Daily Echo: “I’ve never known anything to spark so many complaints in 20 years working with three different authorities.

In the South East region alone 1,300 people contacted us.

“I’ve heard of someone spending £3,000 on tickets and terrible stories of real human misery like a terminally ill grandparent taking all their grandchildren to the park.

“They were selling dreams on their website but the picture portrayed fell a long way short of the real experience.”

A Hampshire recruitment agency which supplied 20 members of staff to the park withdrew all their employees following a number of attacks on staff by furious customers.

Adrian Wood quit the park after being punched in the head and called “a pikey”.

He said: “People were complaining before they even got in. How there weren’t riots, I have no idea.”

Another agency worker who asked not to be named said: “We asked Henry (Mears) what to do if anyone asked to speak to the manager if they were unhappy.

“He told us to point them in any direction and look out for the guy with curly hair – but he doesn’t have curly hair.

“He then said if they carried on to pretend we had a phone call or had to go to the toilet and just walk away.”

Julie Noble from Hythe, who took her three children to the park, said: “It was souldestroying.

It was filthy with mud everywhere and nothing was under cover. The seasonal food described on the websites was in fact just a circle of burger vans and there were no Christmas markets.

“There wasn’t even any organisation or someone to take the tickets we had paid £125 for. It felt like hell on earth by the end of the day.”

Grace Tyrrel, from Fareham, whose six-year-old daughter Jessica queued for three hours to meet Father Christmas, added: “It was a mudbath. Like all the other visitors, we are completely disgusted, especially given the wasted £150 spent by us at this time of year.”

Diana Porter, from Totton, spent £350 taking her family which included her daughter Anita Saunders and five-yearold grandson Alfie.

Anita said: “My five-year-old son Alfie was looking forward to seeing Father Christmas and the reindeer.When we got there, there were two of them that you could hardly see and he just turned around to me and said: ‘Mummy are they dead?”

“They were lying down in a shed and didn’t look very healthy.”

Ironically, Lapland New Forest’s website, which was last night no longer working, claimed it offered value for money.

“We believe you’ll agree that the experience could be priced higher,” it said.

“We are especially proud to be constructing a truly magical and affordable event that will not only employ many people, but will help warm thousands of young and grown-up visitors’ hearts.”

Staff under attack

SUE Holzharr, managing director of Richards Events in New Milton, said it had been forced to withdraw more than 20 members of staff from the park over fears for their safety.

“It wasn’t the attraction we were made to believe it would be,” she said.

Mrs Holzharr said members of staff were left to face the brunt of visitors’ anger.

“One of my girls, who is the nicest sweetest person, got slapped. I felt really guilty but at the end of the day I had to put my staff first.”

See today's Daily Echo for the full story