Family say they are "Traumatised" after visit to Southport Pleasureland and vow never to return

The family left the following comment on Tripadvisor after their recent visit.

Having returned home from a family visit here I feel utterly compelled to inform others at just how horrendous our trip was.

We were pre pandemic regular visitors to the fair and today was our first trip back...a family day out over the August Bank Holiday weekend which was meant to create magical memories and has instead traumatised members of our party and left us all saying we would never return.

We booked our tickets online the day before our visit. All booked quite quickly and without any fuss. I will point out however though that the way in which the level of documentation to show children require a carer is akin to selling your soul therefore we didn't go down that route as it would of meant taking very private and confidential letters to prove two of our party have additional needs, out with us where the potential to lose them and thus NI numbers etc was a risk we chose not to take.

We arrived at the park having travelled by train instead of coming in our car, this making more memories and building up the excitement for the younger members of our family. Upon arriving it was clear we were going to be some time to get to the ticket booths due to the queue which was well past the slushie making area. The queue wasn't going down quickly so I took the children to wait and rest in a seating area by the Frisbee ride. Dad queued up to get the wristbands to come back over telling us that the park staff had to put the bands on themselves. There was one member of staff doing this which subsequently added to the time delays. This was noted by numerous others as being ridiculous and no explanation was given other than "I have to do it".

We chalked this up to it being the bank holiday and how the management perhaps didn't want any wristbands to go missing so we trotted of to the Fun House whilst three of our group went to the Dodgems.

We returned and the look of sheer horror on their faces was instantly noticeable. We ascertained that the ride which was alongside the Dodgems has stopped mid ride. This ride was The Rocket. We quickly heard that two youngsters had taken ill on the ride and passed out due to the ride being in onlookers opinions as being operated incorrectly and too fast. There was talk of how the carriage had come off the tracks. Unfortunately I personally witnessed three members of staff laughing and making jokes about how the ride was stuck yet again and how "it always happens". The severity of the situation was becoming ever more clear whilst our party went on the swing ride. Numerous paramedics, ambulances and the fire brigade were present on site. Again I heard staff mocking people who were in the carriages which I found wholeheartedly disgusting. The ride remained closed for the duration of our visit however on the website it was showing that both the rocket and the rollercoaster were closed on the 27th for maintenance. I can confirm both rides were operating when we were there, the rollercoaster inparticular was operational throughout the day and closed once.

During the visit many more rides were stopped due to malfunctions (the swing, the rollercoaster, the log flume, the small cars rides at the outside of the park...) These were just what we witnessed.

My five year old daughter was on the trampolines and was repeatedly being told to move areas due to other children coming into her space. I raised this with the operator at the time who said "I don't know who they belong to so it's easier to move her". I repeatedly pointed out how this was unfair in my child to finally be told "take her off then".

Rides all appeared to be being operated by very young looking people who in the majority had no customer service skills. I would commend the round lady who was operating the dippers near the front of the park (the ones with the wheelchair access) as she was thorough and kind to the children.

I witnessed two youths projectile vomiting after riding the rollercoaster, pointed out the mess to a member of staff and was told it would be cleaned right away....two hours later the sick was still visible by the stains on the floor.

It's meant to be a no smoking amusement park yet there were so many people walking around smoking and no staff members were enforcing the rules. Alcohol is sold on site which is fine however you can walk around the park with it freely this spilling it over people. There are picnic areas on site which are great however again I repeatedly witnessed people walking around with cans of beer and they were not approached by staff.

The toilets are quite frankly a health hazard. The ladies toilets were foul smelling, unclean and parts of the wall missing behind the pipes. Hand wash basins were covered in grime and stained.

Honestly can't express how disappointed the whole visit was. My autistic boys refused to go on any rides after seeing the rocket break and the emergency services called. They were absolutely petrified. I asked members of staff to speak to management to be told that they were busy.

Disgusted, £180 on a day that was a wholehearted disaster.