A temporary theme park in Dorset has been closed down by its owner after it caused a public uproar and attracted housands of complaints from visitors.

Called Lapland New Forest, the attraction was accused of misleading guests with its marketing and not living up to promises made on its website.

Ever since the park opened on 29 November it attracted nationwide media attention as hundreds of people demanded refunds and some took legal action to try and get the attraction shut down under the trade description act as well as on animal welfare grounds.

WIthin a week of its opening, more than 2,000 complaints had been lodged with local councils and the RSPCA.

According to the Bournemouth Eco, up to 50,000 people are believed to have pre-booked tickets to the park, which charged £30 per person for entry plus extra for the activities it organises inside the gates. According to visitors, most of these activities were either unavailable or they had a three to four hour queue to them.

The attraction consisted of fair ground rides, a number of husky dogs chained to their kennels, burger stalls, fish and chips stands and a nativity scene painted on a large billboard.

In a statement issued to the media on 4 December, the attraction's owner and operator, Victor Mears, accused a "campaign of organised crowd manipulation" and "event sabotage" for the forced closure.

He said: "With my deepest regret and sincerest apology I am left with no option but to announce that I am forced to close Lapland New Forest due to the unscrupulous and inaccurate negative bias media broadcasts of both local and national press and television companies that contributed significantly to fuelling widespread public concern, frenzy and distraction since the 1st December 2008."

He also advises people looking for reimbursements to "return to our website for further information on this important matter".