Canadian Ian Emblin was one of about 10 disappointed tourists who were turned away from the Hypogeum on Tuesday and told that the three tickets he had bought online were not valid.

We were turned away politely but firmly . . .

“We were turned away politely but firmly and told by the officials that the tickets had been fraudulently issued,” said Mr Emblin, who visits Malta for several weeks every year together with his wife Maria.

On Monday, Heritage Malta, that runs the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, said tickets for 2012 had been issued by maltaticket.com without its consent.

Maltaticket.com replied it would be taking legal action against Heritage Malta for the claims and for breach of contract. It said that it was merely the infrastructure provider for Heritage Malta and all tickets issued through its system were via links from Heritage Malta’s own website. Tickets were, therefore, sold directly by Heritage Malta, it insisted.

Mr Emblin, 77, feels Heritage Malta should have made more of an effort to inform the people about the issue and not wait for them to be turned away once they arrived at the World Heritage Site.

He explained that his son, Richard, came to Malta from South America to spend New Year’s Day with him and his wife and wished to see the Hypogeum, which his parents had already visited.

Mr Emblin said that in mid-December he ran an online search and the first site that popped up was that of maltaticket.com. He immediately booked three tickets for the first available date that was January 3.

When the day arrived they drove to the area and after struggling to find a parking place they made it to their destination on time.

“When we arrived there was quite an argument as there were between 10 and 12 people who had downloaded their tickets but who were not let in,” he said adding there were tourists from Holland and Spain who were very upset. The officials at the door told them the tickets were fraudulent and they could apply for refunds through the bank that issued their credit cards. Mr Emblin eventually did so and got the refund of €50 for the three tickets.

Tourists were also told they could wait around in case there was a no-show and, although they opted to wait, Mr Emblin and his family did not make it inside.

He was told the Hypogeum was fully booked until January 8, by which time his son would have left the island.

“My wife and I are staunch fans of Malta and understand these things happen,” he said, as he explained that his daughter was married to a Maltese man, so he and his wife owned an apartment on the island for their long annual visits.

“Our dismay is that Heritage Malta did not contact the people who purchased their tickets through maltaticket.com or make it more public that there was a problem,” he said.

Outside the Hypogeum there is a notice saying that the contract with maltaticket.com was terminated on December 21, 2011. Mr Emblin bought his ticket before.

In the statement on Monday, Heritage Malta said maltaticket.com was no longer its official ticketing service provider and all those who bought tickets for the Hypogeum after November 15 should contact it as soon as possible via info@heritagemalta.org or on 2295 4000 to check about ticket validity.