Thoresby Park clarify ‘Lapland Experience’ scam reports

Police had issued a warning after a number of people reported they have been scammed after buying what they thought were tickets to a ‘Lapland Experience’ at Thoresby Park, however the estate have sought to clarify the situation.

South Yorkshire Police had originally said in a report that they had been made aware of ‘a number of instances’ in which individuals have purchased tickets for a ‘Lapland Experience’ at Thoresby Park, which had turned out to be a scam, following the North Pole Experience which was due to open in November.

Thoresby Park’s executive director Gregor Pierrepont has spoken to the Chad to clarify.

Mt Pierrepont said: “Unfortunately it seems there have been some crossed wires.

"There have been no tickets sold for a 'Lapland Experience' event, those who were affected were just for the North Pole Experience as previously reported on.

"We have since clarified this issue with South Yorkshire Police.”

The original North Pole Experience event at Thoresby Park was cancelled due to ‘unforeseen circumstances’ leaving families hundreds of pounds out of pocket before Christmas.

Although Thoresby Park were not responsible for ticket sales for the event and are currently seeking legal action against the organisers, Mr Pierrepont admitted that the event being cancelled would affect the estate’s Christmas plans for ‘some time’.

He continued: “Unfortunately this event has meant that we will probably not hold any Christmas events for the foreseeable future, as people will understandably be reluctant to engage.

"We will, of course, continue with our plans for the rest of the year and hold the events which have run successfully for many years.

"Unfortunately we had trusted the organisers of this event as being competent – they had run successful events elsewhere and came with references.

"They had obviously tried to do something bigger than they had previously managed, and were unable to fulfil their obligations.

“The continued failure by them to open, despite half completing their set-up, has disappointed us as much as anyone else."

Families who had purchased tickets were originally advised to contact the North Pole Experience organisers for a refund, however the team’s Facebook pages had been removed and the company’s website was replaced with a statement of apology.

Thousands of families have now been forced to open disputes with their banks to obtain a refund.