Families and visitors to Paultons Park have hit out at changes to season tickets.

Paultons Park posted a statement on their Facebook page yesterday informing loyal visitors they would be introducing a £1 charge per guest when booking spaces to visit the park following claims of 'misuse'.

A spokesperson for the family theme park in Romsey, said they were disappointed to see "many Season Ticket Holders misusing the pre-booking system and not using our freely available cancellation portal".

They have been seeing a no-show rate of more than 30%, with some people pre-booking more than 30 tickets and only visiting four or five times.

The £1 fee will be donated to our charity partner, Southampton Children’s Hospital Charity.

It comes into force today.

The non-refundable charge will be required for each Season Ticket Holder attending.

And the spokesperson added: "If we continue to see unfair use of the system after this change we will limit season ticket holders to one booking per week, again this is something which we do not want to do and we hope the changes being made at this time will be enough.

"We apologise to season ticket holders who have been responsibly using the system, however we have been forced to find a way to curb the significant amount of over booking we are seeing – and provide the fairest system for everyone to use, so you can all enjoy a day out to Paultons."

The post has attracted more than 1,300 comments on their Facebook page.

One person, who contacted the Daily Echo said: "Paultons Park now think it’s acceptable to start charging season ticket holders who have already paid for their season tickets a £1 charge per visit per person on top of what they have already paid.

"They are also threatening to limit season ticket holders how many times they can visit even though they’ve paid for a ticket that gives them the freedom to go as many times as they wish.

"And above all this today they have decided to increase their ticket prices from £140 to £169 the second increase this year. Shame on Paultons."

Another person commenting on their page said: "This is hugely disappointing. We have only been once since you’ve opened. As a nurse and working shifts and throughout lockdown we have been looking forward to some family time but as I work shifts I’ve been unable to log on countless times on a Friday to see what is available.

"And by the time I get to have a look nothing is available. You have treated season ticket holders really badly. I feel the best way to resolve this is to charge the repeat offenders, not punish everyone and alienate your most loyal customers.

"Our season tickets run out next month and as a result of this we are not going to renew."

One disappointed customer said: "I feel sad. I always cancel my tickets and update the Facebook group so that others can use my ticket. I am trying hard to be positive Paultons but with a huge increase in season ticket prices my positivity is declining."