Furious parents have criticised an outdoor adventure park company after it cancelled their bookings because it reopened too early.

The appropriately named Go Ape, which runs 34 treetop climbing venues around the country, reopened on March 29 along with other outdoor sports facilities such as tennis courts and golf courses.

But after a week and a half of families enjoying themselves at the popular parks Go Ape decided to close again on Wednesday, meaning hundreds of bookings for the rest of the week have been cancelled.

Go Ape said it had taken the decision to shut on the advice of the Office for Product Safety and Standards even though it disagreed with its ‘interpretation of the guidance’.

Angry parents pointed out that by the time the rope courses again on Monday, many children will be back in school.

Mum Melissa Jordan wrote on Twitter: ‘So totally fed up. @GoApeTribe was open this Easter. Apparently they weren’t supposed to be! [S]o have just cancelled the session my two kids were so looking forward to on Friday. But apparently their open again on 12th? When my kids are back at school.’

Others said they were devastated that their children were missing out after so much time in lockdown.

Emily Beecher tweeted: ‘Absolutely appalling behaviour from @GoApeTribe They’ve been open for over a week, we booked a while ago but now they’re closing for 5 days because they were wrong & now I have 3 devastated kids who deserved a treat after the last few months & can’t go. No offer of £back either!’

A number of customers complained that they were offered vouchers rather than refunds and some had yet to receive them.

John Bartlett tweeted: ‘@GoApeTribe Having cancelled my kids Easter treat, you now wish to refund me with a voucher rather than cash. No voucher received yet so can’t book for next week and all slots taken. Awful customer service and plain greed to protect your cash flow.’

In a statement on its website Go Ape said: ‘Over the last three weeks Go Ape has been working closely with several national governing bodies for the outdoors sector who, along with Forestry England, all strongly supported our interpretation of government guidance that we were allowed to open from the 29th March, which we did.

‘However, we have now been made aware that it is the Office for Product Safety and Standards’ view that activities such as ours should not open before Monday, April 12th.

‘Whilst we disagree with OPSS’s interpretation of the guidance, we think the right thing to do is to respect their view and to voluntarily close all our courses until Monday.’