Welcome to Lapland... a muddy field in Staffordshire!

Dec 6 2008

FAMILIES hoping to meet Santa and his merry helpers at a Midland Christmas theme park yesterday were greeted instead by police.

Organisers of Lapland West Midlands, to be held in a field on Bognop Road, Essington, Staffordshire, cancelled the event hours before it was due to be opened.

They blamed adverse publicity, but also admitted Staffordshire County Council had refused to give them a license.

Thousands of people were expected to attend the event which cost £25 a ticket. And dozens of families had forked out hundreds of pounds in advance to ensure entry to the attraction.

Organisers had promised real snow and a real ice rink, an authentic Father Christmas, reindeer and huskies, and a Formula One-style racetrack.

But investigators found a festive farce with grubby toilets, a plywood ice rink and less than a dozen tents in a muddy field more used to hosting car boot sales.

One said: “I’ve certainly not seen anything like this in my time as a council officer.”

Cops were on the scene following fears of repeat ugly scenes at a similar, but unrelated, Lapland set-up in Dorset which failed to impress visitors earlier last week.

Santa and three elves were beaten up by mums and dads furious with the shabby standards at the New Forest attraction.

Grandad Dave Whitehouse, aged 61, of Burton, was among those