Organisers cancel Lapland West Midlands Event.

Adam Parry | December 7, 2008 | 0 Comments More

A Lapland-style attraction in the West Midlands has been cancelled days after a similar event in the New Forest shut.

Lapland West Midlands, which was due to open near Essington, Staffordshire, promised “an enchanting experience” with huskies, reindeer and an ice show.

A notice on the promoter’s website said it was not opening due to bad publicity and lack of ticket sales. It said it was not linked to the New Forest event.

The county council had said it was extremely concerned about the event.

‘A few tents’

A statement on Lapland West Midlands website said: “Due to bad publicity and lack of ticket sales, we regret that Lapland West Midlands will not be opening as planned on 6 December 2008 and the event has been cancelled.”

All those who had bought tickets will get a refund, the statement said.

The website for the attraction says it is “nothing to do with Lapland New Forest” which closed down earlier in the week after some visitors’ criticisms were featured in the media.

Councillor Carol Dean, from Staffordshire County Council, visited the Essington site and said it did not look much like a winter wonderland as it was just a few tents in a field.

“We have come along to see what they have got and if it had opened we would have been able to shut it down because they didn’t have the appropriate permission,” she said.

“Our officers would have come along and said the event couldn’t go ahead.”

‘Right mess’

Early arrivals at the site said they were disappointed with what they could see.

Dave and Evelyn Whitehouse, from Burton-on-Trent arrived with grandson Connor, eight, and his friend Lewis Robbins, seven, and said they had spent £80 on tickets

Mr Whitehouse said: “This is a right mess.

“I was really looking forward to it. I just expected something better when they said they were going to make an effort.”

Teacher Krisia Keane, 37, from Wolverhampton and partner, Robert Evans, left her son and nephews at home while she visited the site to see what had happened. She said they had spent £150 on tickets.

“I have telephoned now for two days and we didn’t get a message back saying that it’s not going ahead.

“We have left the kids because we didn’t want them to get upset, they’re going to be gutted.”

‘Lovely weekend’

The event organiser Steven Jennings said his company had spent £40,000 on the event and employed 25 contracted staff.

He apologised to everyone who had bought tickets and said it would have been a “lovely weekend”.

He blamed the bad publicity and the lack of events licence for the cancellation.

“We had planning permission but we did not have an events licence and although they were not going to prosecute us we think it’s only fair to abide by the law.”

Earlier, the council said reindeer could only be moved onto the site by holders of special permits and it was “not aware that such permits exist”.

The location’s suitability for a large amount of traffic was also questioned by the council.

On Thursday, South Staffordshire District Council said the event did not have an entertainment licence, which it would need if it went ahead as described on its website.

You can find 2 video’s Here & Here. The First shows the site and the second is an interview with a family who had bought tickets.

Source: BBC News.