A SIMPLE swimming trip ended in disappointment for a mother and her children who spent almost two hours waiting to get into the water.

Andrea Potts-Pointer and her sons Alex, eight, and Aiden, four, went to the Littledown Centre, Bournemouth, during February half-term to go swimming but said a “chaotic” booking system and bad customer service left them fuming.

They arrived at 10.20am but were told a ‘Wet and Wacky’ session was due to start within an hour and they should wait for this.

They were advised to come back at 11.45am to buy their tickets so waited in the cafe, paying £9.95 for three drinks and two portions of chips.

At 11.30am they went back to reception and were given green tickets and told to come back and pay at midday.

However, five minutes before midday, yellow ticket holders – who had arrived after green ticket holders – were called up instead. When she and other customers queried this, Andrea said they were simply ‘fobbed off’.

“No-one could explain what was going on, the staff were more interested in criticising the system, which was not very professional.

“We walked out at about 12.15pm. We were there nearly two hours, spent £10 and none of us got to go swimming.”

Richard Flower, Littledown Centre operations manager, said they had trialled a four-hour Wet and Wacky open session to try and cope with increased demand but had since reverted back to fixed times sessions and allowed customers to book in advance.

He said: “We are very sorry Mrs Potts-Pointer didn’t have a great experience with us and would like to reassure her that this is not representative of our customer service.

“We will be looking into this further and, as a gesture of goodwill, invite Mrs Potts-Pointer and her children back for a Wet and Wacky session.”

However Mrs Potts-Pointer, of Burton, said they were not interested in going back.

“I never wanted anything for free, I just wanted them to improve their communication and customer service so other families are not left disappointed,” she said.