Alton Towers has been told to remove online claims from a page of its website headed ‘Rainy Day Guarantee’, after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said the guarantee could be misconstrued.
The page included text stating “If the weather affects ride offering during your visit to Alton Towers Theme Park, you can return for FREE”, and “If you have a qualifying ticket and if weather affects the ride offering at Alton Towers Resort on the day of your visit to the Theme Park, you will be entitled to return for a FREE visit”.
The ruling came after a complainant expressed that she was told the Rainy Day Guarantee policy did not apply to the day of her visit even though it had rained for a significant part of the day.
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Alton Towers said its weather records for the day showed intermittent light rain showers over a four hour continuous period and one heavy downpour which lasted for 27 minutes. However, its policy dictates that the Rainy Day Guarantee comes into play after one hour of continuous rain.
The popular UK theme park admitted that the wording of the website at the time did not specify that the policy would be activated after one hour of continuous rain.
The ASA said it “considered that the ad had omitted information regarding how a ‘Rainy Day’ under the guarantee was declared and for how long rides needed to be out of operation for in order for the guarantee to be invoked”.
“Because the advert omitted that information, we concluded that it was misleading,” the regulator said.
