Parents of disabled children say they are being “pushed out” by a Kent zoo after new restrictions were placed on carer passes to crack down on ticket fraud.

Bosses at Wingham Wildlife Park, near Canterbury, say they have been forced to change the rules as scammers have been forging medical letters to secure free entry.

But concerned mums say they will now no longer be able to afford to take their animal-loving children to the popular attraction.

Previously, an annual disabled membership pass allowed one adult per youngster to get into the park for free.

Now only a “dedicated carer” - who must be named and photographed on the pass - will be able to accompany the child without paying.

The season tickets for disabled customers cost £55. An adult who is not the “dedicated” carer on the pass now has to fork out the regular £21 entry fee.

Frustrated parents have told KentOnline the changes are “unfair” as their disabled children have a number of different carers.

Michelle Keen, who lives in Herne Bay with her disabled son George and three other children, says there are a “whole number of people” who look after him.

She says two carers need to accompany George to the park and “it’s never going to be the same person every time”.

The 40-year-old said: “There are already so many restrictions for disabled children. We are being pushed out!

“George loves Wingham but money is not endless.

“I don’t work as I have to care for him full-time and this is just another thing that we won’t be able to do.

“We are so fed up as a community. We constantly have a series of doors being shut in our faces.”

The mum-of-four argues the rules should allow one carer to be let in the site for free at any given time.

She added: “George suffers from a brain injury after suffering with meningitis twice when he was a baby.

“Wingham is one of the places he loves to visit and I don’t want that to be taken away from him.”

Emma Appleby’s daughter Teagan suffers from a severe form of epilepsy and loves to visit the zoo.

The mum, of Milner Crescent, Aylesham, says that due to Teagan’s condition, she can normally only take her to the park for “one or two hours”.

But now Ms Appleby says “she cannot justify” taking the 14-year-old to the site for that amount of time if she has to pay the entry fee.

“Teagan has five carers and her dad. If they implement this new rule I’m going to have to pay £21 each time a carer takes her,” she said.

“The carer has a full-time job of looking after Teagan when they are at the park. It’s not as if they are making the most out of the facilities.

“Most disabled children have more than one carer so it makes no sense why they are doing this.”

Ms Appleby explained how Teagan would visit the park at least once a week during the summer and described it as a “very handy place to visit”.

Petra Rose, who lives in Herne Bay, has two disabled sons who also love to visit the park.

Her eldest, Matthew, 15, has autism, as does her youngest David, 10, who is also in a wheelchair.

Mrs Rose says it is “essential” that she takes another guardian with her to the wildlife park.

“It is not going to be financially viable for us anymore,” she said.

“I can only work two days a week to care for my sons. It will mean that we can no longer go.

“It is so frustrating as both my sons are animal lovers and the park is a place where they feel happy and safe.”

The 43-year-old visits the park with her children around “20 times a year” and worked out she would be paying an extra £420 with the new rules, which were introduced last month.

She added: “A lot of us have different carers who take our children out and about.

“It’s so frustrating. People look at our community and think we get freebies but we are shut off to so many things.

“We have to adjust so much in our lives to care for our children.”

Park bosses say they have had to make the changes due to people “abusing” the system, with some even forging Personal Independence Payment (PIP) letters to try to get in for free.

They also highlight how almost 250,000 carers enter the zoo for free every year.

Animal collections curator Markus Wilder said: “We care a lot about our disabled visitors and offer a lot to try and make their day out with us as enjoyable as possible.

“We do not get any grants or tax relief or anything like that for offering free entry tickets for carers to accompany disabled visitors.

“We are not restricting or blocking anyone from using the park but have had to make changes to how our tickets work due to the number of ways in which these tickets are sadly being abused.

“It is incredibly difficult for a company that isn’t a charity and relies 100% on visitor funding to be able to find a fair common ground between giving what disabled visitors deserve and are legally entitled to (which is an equal chance for them to visit our park) and ensuring that this is not abused.

“We have plenty of people who even (may I add poorly) forge PIP letters to get a free carer ticket.

“We try to limit the ways in which people can commit fraud with these tickets to ensure that we are able to offer them free of charge to those people who need them.

“We do not feel that this decision puts any child coming to the park on a season ticket at a disadvantage.”

It is not the first time the park has come under fire for its approach to disabled customers.

In June last year, Samantha Bowen was visiting with her 13-year-old daughter Lucy, who uses a wheelchair, when she was challenged for asking for a free carer’s ticket.

The mum told KentOnline she was left feeling “embarrassed and traumatised” after staff asked for proof of her daughter’s disability.

At the time park bosses said they do not ask for proof of disability, but instead request evidence of visitors’ “carer requirement”.