Refund silence over cancelled Cinderella on Ice at Lincolnshire Showground

Ticket holders for a cancelled Cinderella on Ice performance at Lincolnshire Showground say they are still waiting for refunds almost 10 months on.

Cinderella on Ice was set to be a national tour put on by Fairy Tales on Ice, initially planning to come to Lincolnshire Showground between August 3 and 8, 2021.

However, the company postponed these shows for what they described as “uncertainty surrounding the events industry and coronavirus”, and the Showground dates were moved to February 14 to 20, 2022.

This announcement was made on July 7, 2021, and it is the last post made by Fairy Tales on Ice on social media channels, with comments limited after a number of customers spoke out about their experience with trying to arrange refunds.

A statement about the rescheduled shows says: “We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but we promised to take you and your families on a magical and enchanting journey, and this is something we simply must deliver to its fullest potential.

“It would mean a great deal to us if you could hold on to your tickets as the magic will return bigger and better than ever! We will take care of everything for you, and you will not need to do anything moving forward.

“However if you cannot make the new dates you can get the face value of your ticket refunded via the platform you purchased from.”

There was a deadline date of August 6, 2021 to apply for refunds, and anyone who missed that date would instead have tickets rolled over to the 2022 shows – which never even happened.

There are now a large group of paying customers who never got to see a performance and still do not have their money back, though it seems their complaints are falling on deaf ears. For some, it is a matter of hundreds of pounds.

Expired web pages indicate tickets were retailing at between £20 and £40.

Ian Penn, one of the people waiting for refunds, told The Lincolnite Fairy Tales on Ice told him to contact the ticket provider for refunds, who themselves directed Ian back to the production company.

He said: “Whilst it was disappointing the performance was cancelled, we understood as it was a difficult time with COVID-19. We were told a refund would be issued within 10 days.

“This did not happen and it now a very confusing situation. The promoter said via the Showground that refunds should be claimed from the payment processing company Skiddle.

“However, they have said they passed the ticket receipts onto the promoter, so it appears on face value that the promoter has retained all the ticket money.

“We are seeking to recover the money from our bank, but this is not certain, so the obvious question is what has happened to ours and all other ticket holders’ money?”

On Companies House there are two businesses that appear to be connected to this case, named Fairy Tales on Ice Ltd and Fairy Tales on Ice (2020) Ltd, with the former being dissolved in 2017.

Both have David William Thomas listed as a director, and the most recent 2020 company appears to be dormant.

Also, Fairy Tales on Ice had been advertising Dancing on Ice star Dan Whiston for the Cinderella production, but he took to social media at the start of 2022 to say he had not been involved since dates were changed last year.

On face value the case seems similar to the cancelled Comedy in the Park event and McFly concerts that were supposed to take place at Lincolnshire Showground last year, which again saw customers wait months on end for their refunds to be processed.

These events were put on by M&B Promotions, but both were cancelled as social media channels were deleted and access to the website was limited as the company was dissolved. PayPal eventually stepped in and cleared refunds after months of pressure from customers.

The Lincolnite has contacted both Fairy Tales on Ice and the Lincolnshire Showground for comment on multiple occasions, and neither had replied at the time of publication.