Monster truck event branded rip-off by families

Organisers RA Monster said the Slingshot show would feature "car-crushing, high-flying monster truck action"

A monster truck event that promised a "spectacular" day out has been branded a "complete rip-off" by families.

RA Monster Events' "Motorfest" at Wolverhampton Racecourse was touted as a weekend of motorbike shows, live acts, stunt shows and a giant funfair.

However, families said they spent up to £19 a ticket for a 10-minute show where "one truck with a loud exhaust drove around in circles" and a selfie with mascots on 28 and 29 June.

The BBC has contacted RA Monster Events, based in Northumberland, for comment. It follows a string of complaints about events across the country, with many on Facebook criticising ticket prices and poor organisation leaving children "bored and disappointed".

Shannon Hipgrave said she would not be going to another event run by RA Monster

Shannon Hipgrave, from Penn, Wolverhampton, said she spent £85 on five tickets to take her truck-loving two-year-old son and family after being impressed by the event's advertising, but decided to leave early because it was "such a let down".

"We queued longer to get in the place than we stayed there, there was nowhere to sit and we couldn't see a thing," Ms Hipgrave said.

She described the show as an "awful experience" that was poorly organised.

Truck rides were promised but organisers said on Facebook that the rides did not appear due to "operational issues" that were beyond their control.

However, UK Monster Truck Rides, which supplied trucks for the organisers, said it decided to pull out of the Wolverhampton show and any of RA Monster's future shows as "minimum requirements" were not met.

The suppliers, based in Newark, Nottinghamshire, did not disclose the requirements but said it involved ground conditions and queue management which could affect the quality of rides and safety.

The Great Harwood event was described as a "disaster" with a lack of communication and poor organisation

Robert Cooper spent £32 to take his wife and son to an RA Monster event in Great Harwood, Lancashire, in June, but felt let down as it was "far from what was advertised".

He said that none of the motorbike or stunt shows were at the event and the minimum viewing space made it feel "really unsafe and crowded".

"I graft hard all week and look forward to the weekends with my two-year-old son and doing fun exciting stuff," he said.

A monster truck gave customers rides in Great Harwood for £10 a person

Another customer, David, said that his tickets were not even scanned to get into the event and he watched "people walking in and straight back out again".

"There were queues and queues of people not knowing what was going on, no schedule as to when events were happening," he said.

Customers said they queued for up to 45 minutes to get into the Great Harwood event

RA Monster is holding events across the country in the summer including Tewkesbury, Norwich, Great Yarmouth and St Albans.

It thanked customers on Monday on Facebook for an "action-packed June" from "roaring engines to smiling faces".

Cat Keenan, an influencer from Newport, south Wales, took her son to an RA Monster event at Chepstow Racecourse in March but said he was left "heartbroken" after watching trucks drive repetitive laps behind a metal railing.

Ms Keenan posted a video on TikTok about the event where she said the truck did a "pretty cool trick" but the show ended after about five minutes.

"It's a big money waster, the advertising makes it look so good. I expected a full on monster show but there was a lot of disappointed people," she said.