Visitors who had paid up to £30 each for tickets to a “Christmas Wonderland” in the New Forest were turned away yesterday by a woman shrieking: “Santa's dead.”

Dorset county council's trading standards department has received more than 2,000 complaints about the Lapland theme park since it opened last Friday.

This morning a convoy of lorries and horseboxes carrying reindeer, donkeys and huskies left the muddy site after contractors called in the police, claiming they had not been paid.

More than 50,000 tickets to the attraction known as Lapland New Forest had been sold in advance. It is not known whether any of those who had paid up to £130 for a family ticket would get their money back.

Visitors complained that the site, which boasted an ice rink, a snowy “tunnel of light” a nativity and Santa's grotto as well as animal attractions, was little more than a mud-covered carpark. The ice rink had melted because of a broken generator, the “tunnel” was a few Christmas trees sprayed with artificial snow, and the “nativity scene” was a badly painted billboard.

Santa's Grotto did actually exist, but there was a four-hour queue for entry and an additional £10 charge for photographs once inside. During a confrontation with angry parents, one of the three Santas and several of his elves claimed they had been beaten up.

Today families were arriving to find the entrance coned off. A woman from the park shouted through the fence: “Santa's gone home, Santa's f*****g dead.”

Becky and Gerhard Venter, and their 12-month-old son Lucas had driven from Thatcham, Berkshire despite the poor publicity. She said: “We weren't too excited about the prospect of coming here as we had heard it was bad but we had bought the tickets anyway and had no choice.

“But I was furious when I found it closed as my husband had taken the day off work and we drove two hours to get here.”

Tracey Baldock, 38, travelled from Brighton with her parents and three-year-old son Tijan. She said: “We had obviously heard about how awful the park was but were advised to still come and take photos as it may help us get our money back.

“We checked the website before we left to make sure it was still open and there was nothing on there to say otherwise. But when we got here it was shut and Tijan was really disappointed. I am absolutely furious as it is my birthday today and we have spent more than £100 to come here.”

A source at the Lapland site said today: “When staff turned up at 12 o'clock they were turned away from the gate and told everything was being packed up.

“The donkeys and other animals were loaded into horseboxes and the fairground was taken down. First aid people have also been told they won't be needed any more. It has been chaos.”

Earlier, officers from Dorset police were called to the site after a confrontation between contractors and the park management. A police spokesman said: “We have since been told the Lapland New Forest attraction has been closed permanently.”

Dorset County Council's trading standards launched an investigation into the attraction after receiving more than 2,000 complaints.

Henry Mears, Lapland New Forest's proprietor, said: “Mostly due to the scurrilous way the media has acted and reported this, the site is closed.”

Victor Mears, a director of Lapland New Forest Ltd, announced the closure of the attraction and said he hoped to reach a “satisfactory conclusion” with customers looking for a refund.

In a statement he said: “With my deepest regret and sincerest apology I am left with no option but to announce that I am forced to close Lapland New Forest. This is due to intentional organised crowd manipulation and event sabotage during and since our first trading weekend.

“The unscrupulous and inaccurate negative bias media broadcasts of both local and national press and television companies that contributed significantly to fuelling widespread public concern, frenzy and distraction.”

He added: “For all people wishing to claim financial reimbursement I can only advise that you return to our website for further information on this important matter. Both I and all of the Lapland New Forest team have had every intention of both continuing and continuing to enhance our children's event.

“We have all put many months of hard planning, endeavour and finance into the Christmas theme park. Our wonderful venture and advertising campaign proved to be highly popular and many of our visitors did have a great day with us.

“We are all deeply upset at the outrageous lies, slander, accusations, violent threats and lack of official support we have endured and I have every intention of pursuing all matters to the full extent of the law.

“From myself and every member of the Lapland New Forest team to all of our valued customers and incredible team players that contributed so much to our honourable enterprise, we look forward to reaching a clear and satisfactory conclusion as soon as is possible.”

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