To think this was badly handled? London zoo

[LondonZoo55]

They are doing an accessibility scheme thing for people on low incomes, so anybody who receives supplemental universal credit etc.

A woman took it upon herself to post about it in a Facebook bargain group and it went viral.

Thousands of people (us included) have been turned away at the gates after travelling for 2hrs to get here. We were happy to pay full price and came fully intending to even though we do qualify, but we were refused as they're at max capacity.

Cue a meltdown from autistic DS. A tantrum from DD. It was absolute mayhem.

AIBU to think this was badly handled?

There are people that have travelled further than us, the zoo employees are apologetic and suggested they try again tomorrow. It'll be like this daily until the offer ends on 31st March.

Ridiculous.

So you're annoyed you didn't get in and had to deal with the fall out from your children about that, and even though it's common sense that somewhere like London Zoo would be busy at half term, that they will have a maximum capacity and you didn't think to book, check ahead or in any way take any responsibility, you think that it was handled badly?
It was, by you.

Pretty sure you’d be on here greetin’ if they’d let you in and it was rammed wi folk. Fit did you expect them to do fan it’s at capacity?

YABU. If they're full, they're full. Also, if you're willing to pay full price, pre-book.

It’s been mentioned in all the national
papers , I don’t know why you’re blaming some poor soul in a Facebook group. We’re 250 miles away and ineligible, but we knew about it.

YABU. It’s one of the best zoos in the country and it’s half term. Of course it’s going to be mad busy, even without the bargain offer. If you didn’t get there when it opened, your children’s disappointment is your own fault.

Imo she’s lying about planning on not accepting the offer she’s apparently entitled to. The offer isn’t online to prebook, just the normal tickets are. I’m also wondering how she thinks the zoo handled this badly, and what she expects to do. If they’re full, they’re full. They’ve got posts all over social media warning people of arrival times as they are at maximum capacity. Unless the op is complaining about them doing the offer in the first place, which makes her a complete twat as the offer is trying to help families in poverty experience something they may otherwise not be able to afford.

Is it preferable that they let unsafe numbers of visitors in?

Badly handled by who? Thousands of people turned up without tickets. That's hardly the zoos fault!

If you’re prepared to turn up anywhere in half term without pre booking that’s on you. No way I’d risk it. Especially driving that distance. They were full. They couldn’t have handled it any differently

I doubt she'll be back

Poor London zoo and poor gate staff having to deal with it probably on minimum wage. And it probably cost the zoo tonnes of money too.
nice idea in theory but people complain so not worth the hassles!

No need to prebook if you use common sense and turn up early. They’ve been open for hours and only closed the entrance an hour ago. Don’t turn up at 1pm expecting to get in when they’ve got a huge offer on, and have put up posts and warnings on their website about reaching capacity.

Not sure why you were turned away. An hour ago they said that the queue was closed but anyone in the queue would still get in.

Not it wasn’t badly handled, just piss poor planning on your part 🙄🤣

Yabu I'm afraid. If you have a child who may have meltdowns (as I do too) it wasn't a good idea to risk this.

Why didn't you pre-book?

Pretty much all London attractions are best pre-booked.

Yes, I think you did handle this badly.

Surely you knew that an offer like that would attract big crowds?

If you’re on a position to pay in full and had a specific date you wanted to go, you should have booked online.

Doing this would have meant you got to visit the zoo, and wouldn’t result in your child being upset.

What a pity there is absolutely nothing else you can do in London with children.

A lot of the childrens attractions are very very busy here in the south East , I think it is because it's such a lovely Spring like day .

You're an idiot for travelling two hours to something you hadn't pre-booked on the promise of something some random stuck on FB. You probably message people on marketplace like, "Can you sell me your xbox for £20? No? You RUINED my kids' christmas"

Fucking hell some of you are so dense.

Yes, this was terribly handled. As soon as the offer went viral, they should have made it mandatory to prebook a free ticket and show proof of eligibility at the door.
Having an unprecedented number of families show up IS a disaster. There is no point saying 'You should have got there early.'

What is 5000 people all got there early?

Great. What happens when the tickets get booked up online by those who aren't eligible, and the gate staff have to deal with lots of arguments when they turn up? Because this will happen. The only way to do something like this is on the gate where eligibility can be checked.

Their website shows tickets for today are sold out. It's dense not to check that.

This. Regardless of what this woman said. Which is irrelevant really.

You can’t pre-book for the UC discounted tickets. She can’t do something that’s impossible 😂

I would’ve gotten there and been waiting for it to open from early though lol.

She said she was happy to pay full price