A Winter Wonderland event has been forced to shut down early after parents complained that its Santas were too thin and the ice rink did not contain real ice.

The event in Milton Keynes, which opened last weekend, was advertised as a chance to pet reindeers and huskies, go skating and meet Father Christmas.

But furious customers vented on the Facebook page claiming that they had been misled. Today it was announced that it would be closed immediately.

A charity which was due to benefit from the proceeds had earlier said that it was withdrawing from the event following the string of complaints.

One mother said her family had paid £42 to pre-book tickets to find "men dressed in Santa outfits from Poundland".

"This was definitely no Wonderland," she wrote. "It felt like an opportunity to rip off parents who had hoped to have a magical day out with their children."

Parents paid £8 per child to enter Santa's Grotto - but they claim that when they got inside, the workers playing Father Christmas were skinny young men whose beards kept falling off.

Other complaints were that the advertising suggested more than two husky dogs and two reindeer would be at the event and that the ice rink was nothing but a plastic sheet, the BBC reported.

"We would have had more fun on a frozen puddle."