Lapland New Forest complaints

Trading standards officers from Dorset County Council are currently investigating a large number of complaints about the Lapland New Forest Christmas theme park based at Matchams in East Dorset. This event is operated by a company based in Brighton and Hove.

The event runs from Friday, 28 November through to Christmas Eve. Tickets are £30 for individuals, £25 each for families of four or more and £10 for children under two years.

Dorset’s trading standards service received over 50 complaints this morning and is aware of a large number of others.  Anyone with a complaint is asked to call Consumer Direct, trading standards’ front door for consumer enquiries, on 08454 040506 (lines are open 8.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday and on Saturday mornings). Their complaint will be investigated and they will receive advice on how to reclaim their money.

Trading standards officers are making investigations on the site today (Monday 1 December) to see whether there have been any breaches of trading standards law.

Officers are particularly concerned with whether any misleading claims have been made in the promotional literature and website and whether or not consumers’ rights are being breached in terms of civil law under the Supply of Goods and Services Act.

Ivan Hancock, Dorset County Council divisional trading standards manager, said:

"We will investigate what is on offer at the site and consider possible options. If we find that the company has been misleading people or there have been breaches of consumer rights, we can take legal action. However, trading standards does not have the ability to shut the event down.

There are also possible Health and Safety issues and we are liaising with East Dorset District Council about these. We will certainly be speaking to the directors of the company involved.

For now, we want people to be able to make a sensible judgement as to where they stand if they have bought tickets. For advice on this, they should call Consumer Direct, who will be able to explain the process of trying to claim their money back if they feel it is appropriate.

Ultimately, if the company does not respond to customers’ complaints, they may have to resort to the small claims court.

People can rest assured that we are treating this very seriously given the number of complaints and that we will investigate this and take appropriate action.”