A mother has criticised the management of a Douglas soft play venue after it cancelled her son’s birthday party just hours before it was due to start.

Gemma Harland, of Peel, received a phone call from the VillaGaiety on the day of her son George’s third birthday party, December 30, to say their session at the Dragons Castle at the Villa Marina Arcade was double-booked.

Ms Harland said: ’You can imagine how much stress goes into organising a little kid’s birthday party without having to deal with a cancellation. It’s beyond belief!

’We booked in October as George was born on New Year’s Day, so it’s hard to find a venue for him near Christmas and the New Year.

’Dragons Castle had one slot available for the day. Somebody had booked before us, but we were told not to worry as it’d been cancelled.’

With money spent on catering, friends visiting from the UK for the day and 18 children looking forward to the event, the family contacted the Manx Fun Barn in Onchan and were ’over the moon’ to secure a spot there. ’The Fun Barn pulled out all stops to make it work,’ she said.

The VillaGaiety apologised and is investigating the reasons behind the error.

A Department of Education, Sport and Culture spokesman said: ’The families affected were contacted by Villa Marina staff as soon as the mistake was identified.

’The double-booked session was offered to the family who had booked and paid first, which happened in September 2019.

’The Villa Marina staff offered the family, whose son’s party was affected, an alternative session, free of charge, the same day or the next day.

’The staff also offered to cancel the pop-in and play session (open public session) to allow the family time to set up the play area for the alternative session.

’These offers were declined.’