PARENTS and teachers of children who attend a special school are furious after a company promising a magical Christmas experience for the youngsters failed to deliver – but kept the money raised by parents.

A group of 60 primary-age children from Mowbray School in Bedale, North Yorkshire – which caters for children aged three to 16 with moderate, severe and complex learning difficulties – were due to visit Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland in Harrogate last week after parents saved up for tickets.

The school paid Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland £590 for advance tickets, but the day before they were due to go, pictures of the event were brought to the attention of horrified parents who contacted the school.

Headteacher Jonathan Tearle said: “We booked the Christmas trip as a treat for our younger pupils so they could visit Father Christmas and take part in festive activities.

“But before we went, parents got in touch after seeing pictures on the news of the awful facilities and they felt it was too dangerous to send children there.”

Mr Tearle said he made the difficult decision to cancel – but managed to book the children into a rival Christmas experience at Wetherby’s Stockeld Park.

He said: “This has come out of the school’s budget so we are now out of pocket, and parents are out of pocket because Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland has gone into liquidation.

“We are glad the children still managed to have their trip, but because of the last-minute booking we didn’t manage to do everything we wanted to.”

Mr Tearle said because the Harrogate event was held at the Great Yorkshire Showground he expected it to be of good quality.

“After all of this we tried to get our money back, but the cheque has been cashed. I think they should admit it was not up to scratch and give us a refund," he said.

“I’m very pleased we made the decision to cancel because the children would have been so upset.”

A statement on Yorkshire’s Magical Winterland website said: “The directors of the company have instructed Walsh Taylor Business & Corporate Recovery Specialists to assist in placing the company into Creditors Voluntary Liquidation.

“Walsh Taylor is currently reviewing the company records with a view to determining the creditors of the company.

“In the meantime if you are a creditor of the company please contact Walsh Taylor at creditors.ymw@walshtaylor.co.uk.”