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.

You've got no chance of getting in over the school holidays without pre booking , let alone if there's an offer on

You've fallen for the PR campaign but this is absolute rubbish. ZSL exploits animals for profit; it is not some noble institution saving animals from extinction.

You went to a busy tourist location, during a busy period, without pre booking and are miffed that it was full to capacity (which is there for health and safety reasons).

Not sure what the Zoo could have done to be fair, they've stated pre booking is recommended and have launched a good offer - they don't have responsibility for each visitors travel time, plans etc or indeed how popular the offer is, it's not like they can magically increase capacity.

Thats very sweet of you but i think i know which of us has "fallen for the PR campaign". ZSL's primary function is running zoos, but it also has a significant conservation role. If all zoos were abolished tomorrow, an awful lot of species would promptly go extinct.

Maybe they could have advertised that also low-income families would have to book a timeslot?

How are handling members during this time? Not very nice for them when they pay £££ to be a member and expect fairly pleasant day out. Sounds like hell on earth.

Members don’t currently have to book.

London Zoo reaches capacity in the holidays, has done for decades, it’s no different for members now than before.

That’s not really the point is it. If you’ve paid for annual membership you either need to be able to book tickets online without a charge or guaranteed entry.

I'm a member was easy this morning. Same queue as normal. No issues at 10am

I thought Quirrelsotherface was concerned that the campaign had made things worse for members, in which case, yes, it is the point. Things haven’t changed for members. They don’t need to book, they don’t get turned away.

So you didn't want the cheaper entrance fee yet make a big thing about it and checked you have the relevant benefits etc...Hmmmm either way you should have prepared properly or even booked online. I think your just cross it was full and you didn't get in.

@NumberTheory are you absolutely sure about that? Because at capacity suggests at capacity. It doesn’t suggest at capacity unless you’re a member.

I think its a good thing to do

I was a member with 2 kids a decade ago. Every school holiday they would reach capacity and not be selling more tickets. Members still got in. There was often a small queue on the members’ line and it seemed to move slowly, they may been cleverly waiting for people to leave but I always assumed they just had slow staff. I don’t see how the current situation, campaign or not, is any different.

I think they set a lower capacity, in order to make the animals more comfortable, than would be required by regulations. So there would be wiggle room if a few more members turned up than they had planned for.

We went today and it was very busy but OK at 10:15. By 1130 it was really packed.

Outside was insane. The queue was stretching down the road and well into Regent’s Park and then as we walked back down past the entrance (across road as pavement totally blocked) we saw a second queue. It ran from the entrance in the other direction, all the way down Outer Circle to beyond the other park gates and out of sight!

It made me think there would be no way that all these people would fit in. Because I’m guessing that if people have paid for tickets they will understandably want to spend the whole day there.

There were quite a few ZSL staff along the first queue trying to manage things.

I’m not sure whether members would be guaranteed to get in and/or would need to queue. If you’re a member and you’re thinking about it then I’d recommend going for just after 10am.