TUI has been accused of wrecking Christmas for hundreds of children after a Lapland trip was branded 'shambolic'.
The travel firm arranged for youngsters to meet Santa in the beautiful festive setting in Rovaniemi, Finland.
But things soon turned sour, with many forced to wait hours - only to be told they had to leave and catch their flights back to the UK before getting to the Grotto.
Angry parents have flooded Facebook to express their fury at the way the trip was handled.
One even claimed Father Christmas walked off and said TUI's handing of the chaos was "shameful".
Dad Daniel Turnbull was one of the unhappy customers to hit out online.
He wrote: “Absolutely awful day. Barely four hours in Santa Park, managed a 30 second husky ride and waited nearly two hours to see Santa.
“Santa walked out and only came back because there was an uproar.
“Flights were delayed because people weren’t willing to leave because they’d waited so long to see Santa.
“This trip has been daylight robbery. A formal complaint will be going in once we are home and likely going to be cancelling our summer holiday with TUI.”
He told TUI in the post: “Thanks to the greed of your company to try and make an extra bit of money, you have ruined the Christmas’s of hundreds of children."
Another, mum Kathryn Marshall, fumed: “Terrible day in Rovaniemi. Gutted for the kids who didn’t get to see Santa.
“Paid £2,000 for a reindeer ride and a husky ride and the snowmobile. In total about 15 minutes of rides.
“Queue was an hour and a half to see Santa which meant we would miss our coach to airport.
“We were told by TUI rep that our crying children would have to live with it and said it’s something that I’d have to do at home. Absolute joke."
A TUI spokesperson told Deadline : “We’re so sorry some customers weren’t able to visit Santa on their day trip to Lapland last Saturday and we understand this is extremely disappointing and upsetting.
“Unfortunately delays were caused when the park became very busy with other guests. We’re working hard with our resort team to prevent this happening again.
“We’re contacting families that we are aware didn’t see Santa to provide compensation and children will be receiving personal letters from Santa.
“We would again like to apologise that we didn’t deliver a magical Christmas on this occasion.”
