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Hour-long queues and lacklustre superheroes left families angry and disappointed at a Bank Holiday event in Margam Park.

Scores of parents have complained about Margam Country Park’s ‘Bank Holiday Super Hero Family Fun Day’ claiming it was poorly run and "a rip-off".

The special event, which promised children could meet “lookalikes-Spiderman, Iron man, the Hulk and Anna, Elsa and Olaf from Frozen”, had angry parents demanding their money back on Monday.

'£19 to glimpse a shoddy Olaf'

Writing on the event’s Facebook page, Katie O’Donoghue said: “Honestly if you were going to don’t bother, not enough food and drink stands, not enough toilets, (queues) everywhere a mile long.

“Basically went there and paid £19 to glimpse a shoddy Olaf walking around. Really badly organised and a total waste of our Bank Holiday and money.”

Alexandra Jones add: “Absolutely disgusted with the event. Hours and hours of queues. Only a couple of toilets, hardly any thing to do. Complete chaos.

“Left after an hour for how rubbish it was. I will be asking for a refund tomorrow. Very disappointed children and there were 100s of families leaving.”

By 11am traffic cameras reported queueing traffic on the M4 at the exit for Margam with congestion back onto the main carriageway. Traffic snarls continued for several hours.

In the evening police were forced to close the A48 in both directions to allow motorists to leave Margam Park after the event ended.

The event which ran from 11am until 4pm included a Frozen sing-a-long and promised families meet-and-greets with Olaf, Spiderman and other superheroes. A family ticket cost £19.

'Such a disappointing day'

Emma Mitchell-Williams said: “Such a disappointing day. Took an hour to get to pay. We arrived at 10am (and) stood in line for 45 minutes so my niece could have her face painted. Was told they were short staffed so someone painted her face blue for £3.50.

“Queued for 1 1/2hrs to see Elsa to be told it was ticket only. Very few “superheroes” around. We had 3 toilet stops all totalling 45 minutes each!

“We would have complained on the way out but guess what there was a queue! A compete waste of £12 and a two hour round trip!”

(Image: Disney)

Davina Hollisey-Mclean added: “Complete rip-off. Queued for an hour to see Elsa. It was great to spend time with our family but seeing the organisation at the park was a disgrace.

“Grandchildren did not get to see any super heroes! Cost us £32 to get in to walk round the park with 1000’s of other frustrated people and disappointed kids.”

Cartoon Mascots RTC owner Lanleigh Payne, who was not present at the event, said families had been warned queues would be long.

'Families were advised queues would be long'

“We did expect the queues to be long. People were told to arrive an hour early as the event was expected to be very popular,” she said.

“From our point of view it was well organised. We were booked months in advance and the timetables were sorted early.

“I can’t comment on the other complaints, all we supplied were some of the superheroes."

(Image: Victor Ochieng / Flickr / Creative Commons)

Margam councillor Rob Jones said he had not personally received any complaints about the event.

“On a personal note my parents told me they got caught in an hour long queue on the M4 due to the event but obviously the road network is out of the council’s hands,” he said.

Neath Port Talbot council and Margam Park have been approached for comment but were unavailable due to the Bank Holiday.

By 6.45pm, the traffic congestion on the M4 had cleared.