Customs' fun 'fair' says theme park tribunal.

Granada Group has lost its appeal against Customs & Excise’s refusal to repay almost #550,000 VAT for alleged ‘zero-rated’ supplies of transport at a theme park.

A VAT tribunal ruled that three transport systems – a miniature railway, paddle steamers and a diesel tractor with carriages called Dotto – at Granada’s popular American Adventure Theme Park were not separate supplies.

Customers entering the park, which is no longer owned by Granada, paid a single entrance fee that entitled them to use all the park’s attractions.

Granada’s tribunal representative, Andrew Young of Deloitte & Touche, pinned his hopes for success on a Government decision in 1995 to standard rate theme park rides as they are not public transport. Young argued that the rides were therefore previously zero-rated and a rebate was owed for transport supplies made between 1986 and 1995.

But the tribunal ruled: ‘The provision of transport did not amount to a supply in its own right and, accordingly, the question of whether it would have been zero-rated if it had amounted to a separate supply is irrelevant.’

Customs said the ruling endorsed its treatment of theme park and fairground rides. It is pursuing costs.