A mum says her autistic son's birthday was "ruined" after he was refused an access pass to Thorpe Park - and claims it's "because he's not disabled enough".
Tracy Ham, 41, receives the Disability Living Allowance as her 13-year-old son Zachary Relfe is autistic, MyLondon reported.
On previous visits to the theme park the pair were given a Ride Access Pass by just showing proof of disability to staff as Zachary finds it hard to queue.
However, mum Tracey claims a new policy means her son is considered "not disabled enough" to receive the pass.
She arrived at the park on Saturday May 28 at 10.15am and was told by officials she needed to fill in a form online with seven days notice.
The mum from Paddock Wood said she did not know about the change but Thorpe Park claim the Ride Access Pass was made available online to Tracey before her visit date.
She filled out their application but as Zachary only gets middle-rate care - not the high-rate required - he was not eligible.
However, the Ride Access Passes is guided by external regulatory bodies who determine whether someone is classed as lower rate, middle rate or higher rate, as this classification is not set by Thorpe Park and they have no input.
The mum and son then spent the next four hours walking around the park with Zachary unable to manage long queues. He decided to ride the bumper cars five times instead.
Tracy said: "I was raging. I was just really angry that my money and time had been wasted, and disappointed his birthday had been ruined. He looks forward to his trip to Thorpe Park every year."
Tracy added: "The person who gets the rage off the child is the mother, he could not go on the things he wanted to go on. It was just a waste of time. If I had known I would not have gone there."
She returned to customer services again and battled the dodgy WiFi to fill out the form again with Tracey estimating she spent an hour of the day just filling in forms.
After it was rejected again, a member of staff decided to issue her with fast track tickets as a gesture of goodwill, allowing her to skip queues as she had hoped to in the morning.
Despite being eventually issued the instant access tickets, Tracy said it was still "a shame the day was wasted."
She added: "Because of the way my son is we do not go out that often, which made it harder again. There's a lot of people who go with disabled children so I imagine it's affected a lot of people."
A spokesperson for Thorpe Park told the Mirror: "As part of our ongoing focus on providing the best possible experience for our guests when visiting our UK theme parks, we have listened to guest feedback and have moved to an advanced registration for our Ride Access Pass.
"Documentation is requested to ensure the Ride Access Pass remains effective for guests who need it, and by doing this in advance the process is more efficient for all.
"There have not been any changes to the criteria or the documentation for Ride Access Passes that we accept this season.
"The only change is the simplification of the process by centralising it and moving it online, rather than at the attraction, so guests can simply apply online ahead of their visit.
"We are committed to listening, learning and adapting to the needs of our guests, and welcome the opportunity to discuss guest experiences to help us create the best experiences possible for the future."
