A mum has accused a theme park of “making its rules up as it goes along” after her disabled son was refused access to a ride he was allowed on just two weeks prior.

Keely Hammond, from Gravesend, has been left frustrated by the growing number of attractions her son is unable to ride at Chessington World of Adventures.

Keely, whose son Sonny has muscular dystrophy, epilepsy and hydrocephalus, said the family have been visiting for more than 10 years and have “Merlin passes” as they love the atmosphere at the park in Surrey.

But in recent years the 36-year-old has grown frustrated by changes to the rules governing which rides her son is allowed on, with some now “suddenly” off limits.

“He used to love the Scorpion Express,” she told KentOnline. “And Seastorm. I have video of him on Seastorm.”

However, just two weeks after filming footage of her son enjoying the ride, she claims she’s been told he can longer go on.

“The ride has not changed, so why have the rules?” she added.“Do they make the rules up as they go along?”

And she said the same thing occurred with the new “Jungle Rangers” attraction, previously named “Toadies Crazy Cars”.

“As soon as it changed its name he wasn’t allowed on,” she said. “But the ride hadn’t changed; just the theme.”

Chessington says there are minimum safety requirements for certain rides and it adheres to industry guidelines “with the utmost attention and accuracy” to ensure guest safety at all times.

But the mum-of-three said there are fewer and fewer rides her 14-year-old son can now access as he is growing too tall for the small rides, the big rides are not appropriate for him, and the middle-level rides do not let him on.

Keely added: “The rides he used to go on are either too babyish for him now or his legs are too long for him to fit on. Or he is now not allowed on.”

On their last visit, Keely was excited for Sonny to be able to try the new attractions in World of Jumanji, including rollercoasters Ostrich Stampede and Mamba Strike, which have no restrictions on the website.

But she now fears this will suddenly change the next time they go and it will be a wasted trip.

“It would be so upsetting if they changed the rules,” she said.

“I bet any money the next time we go they say he can’t go on.

“Then it really would be the case that every time we go the rules seem to change.”

She added: “He loved them. He laughed the whole time. To suddenly be told he can’t go on, having been on once, would be devastating.”

Despite this Keely says she understands why her teenage son cannot ride the bigger rollercoasters, but says the rules have left her baffled with their “inconsistencies”.

She explained how he is allowed to ride the Monkey Swinger, which has high single chairs, but is not allowed on Seastorm which has boats which turn in a stationary position.

She added: “How was he allowed on these, which were quite scary, but not on Seastorm?”

The family, who also has a six-year-old daughter Keira and four-month-old baby Lola, says they get no discount for Sonny, despite the fact he cannot enjoy the majority of the attractions.

And Keely says it seems to only be Chessington that has the issue, as they have enjoyed problem-free visits to other parks owned by Merlin Entertainments Limited, including Legoland and Alton Towers.

‘The rides have not changed, so why have the rules?’

“At those places they leave it to the parents’ judgement,” she said. “It’s nice to have the option, rather than looking and thinking he is automatically not allowed.”

She said they even had a situation at Disneyland Paris when they made the decision to put their son on the renowned Big Thunder Mountain rollercoaster only for it to break down, with him stuck at a high point.

But Keely says there was no issue in getting him down.

“Four men arrived with a chair with a safety belt and hoiked him off,” she explained. “They didn’t make a deal of it at all.”

He was also allowed on the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast at the French theme park but he cannot ride the similar Tomb Blaster attraction at Chessington.

The stay-at-home mum thinks Chessington should be adapting its rides to make them more wheelchair-friendly rather than excluding its less able-bodied guests.

She said: “They could just add a carriage at the back of rides like Zufari [a safari-style jeep ride] to allow wheelchairs to go on.”

Her frustration comes after the parents of eight-year-old double amputee Tony Hudgell, from Kings Hill, expressed their anger that he could only ride the baby carousel out of all the attractions at the park.

Alison Kerry, head of communications at disability equality charity Scope, said: “Places like theme parks aren’t built with disabled children in mind, leaving them and their families isolated and excluded.

“It’s 2023, we should be designing accessible rides and equipment as standard so that theme parks are inclusive to all.

“Chessington and other parks need to reflect on this and realise that disabled children and their families deserve to have fun days out too.”

Keely agrees, adding “These children just want to enjoy things like everybody else”.

The health and safety of our guests is something which we will never compromise

A spokesperson for Chessington World of Adventures Resort said: “The health and safety of our guests is something which we will never compromise.

“The minimum safety requirements for certain rides are based upon the strict guidelines and best practices set by ride manufacturers and industry associations.

“We adhere to their guidelines with the utmost attention and accuracy to ensure guest safety at all times.

“As part of a wider ride accessibility review, we also look at all the factors which determine eligibility requirements for rides, including undertaking audits at the Resort to make improvements on a continuous basis.

“We encourage the family to speak to our guest experience team so we can learn from them and work together on making the Resort as inclusive as possible.”