Discount tickets turned away at Jurassic exhibit

The organisers of a Jurassic Park-themed experience in south west London have apologised after people with discounted tickets were denied entry.

On Monday 30 people were affected by a booking system error which caused some time slots at Jurassic World: The Experience at Battersea Power Station to be oversold.

The company behind the experience, Neon, said it wanted to "sincerely apologise to anyone whose visit was impacted" and was "reviewing our processes to ensure this does not happen again".

The company which supplied the discounted entry vouchers, Wowcher, said it was in the process of contacting customers and would be offering full refunds.

Neon said while 30 people were turned away, the "majority of customers were accommodated in alternative sessions during the day".

It said the experience "operates under strict capacity limits to ensure visitor safety" and it was unable to admit everyone at their original arrival time.

It added affected ticket holders for the immersive dinosaur show were notified in advance and offered alternative sessions or a refund.

Around 1,800 people visited the the exhibition each day during the holiday period.

Kate Stevens, who had travelled from her home in Canterbury, Kent, was with her son who lives in in Enfield, east London.

She said they were both were denied entry.

Ms Stevens said she bought the voucher in November and Jacob had been wanting to see the show for some time.

She said: "[My son] was standing next to me and then I could see other people being told and I went up to somebody, and I showed him my ticket, and I was like: 'Does that mean us as well?' And he said: 'Unfortunately, yes.'

"[My son] just burst into tears and then got really upset and said: 'I just want to go home, I just don't want to be here.'"

Wowcher said in a statement: "This event was overbooked due to a system error on Jurassic World's side.

"They have contacted the affected customers directly, apologised and asked them to reach out to Wowcher.

"We are in the process of contacting impacted customers ourselves and will obviously be offering a full refund."

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]