Mix-up with a grotto in Guernsey

EXCITED children hoping for a Christmas visit to Santa’s grotto were left disappointed after a mix-up meant families had booked a garden centre hundreds of miles away.

Several families booked to see Santa at the Earlswood Garden Centre, only to be told the grotto was in a garden centre of the same name, but 250 miles away in Guernsey.

The Earlswood Garden and Landscape Centre, on Forshaw Heath Road, posted on its Facebook page on Sunday, 12th December, that it was not hosting a grotto this year, and that customers’ tickets were in fact for the Earlswood Garden Centre in Guernsey.

Sales and marketing director at the Warwickshire-based centre, Brett Sheridan, said: “For kids, this is devastating to be told they are going to see Santa and then find out he’s not here.

“We’ve had to deal with rightfully angry people, it’s created a whole mess.

“I’m a father myself and I know I’d be pretty annoyed to book tickets then get to the venue and find it’s not on.”

The grotto in Guernsey, the Channel Islands, was set up by a third party – event organisers Sprinkle of Magic – who have since apologised for the confusion caused and in a gesture of festive goodwill have offered to refund 50 per cent of tickets booked in error.