A YOUNGSTER who braved a major operation to repair her crippled feet looks set to miss a meeting with Santa in Lapland -- because of a booking blunder.

Little Katie Power is in danger of being dropped from the once-in-a-lifetime trip because there are not enough seats on the plane.

Now the 11-year-old Bolton girl faces an agonising wait to see if she can join the rest of the group on a larger plane, but with only eight days to go before the trip, time is running out.

Katie's mother, Alison Power, who runs the Saturdays dancing club with her sister-in-law Mandy Heron, had raised thousands of pounds to pay for the one-day trip for 12 special youngsters, including her daughter, to meet Father Christmas.

But the tour operator has claimed that the travel agent, Astley Bridge Travel, did not make enough bookings for the number of people wanting to go.

The firm closed a few weeks ago following a slump in bookings but the Lapland party, which includes parents and guardians who have paid for the trip themselves, was not affected as the company was a member of ABTA -- meaning all customers were fully covered for any eventuality and could still go on the trip.

However, the Oxford-based tour operator, Transun, only has a record of 68 places having been booked instead of 73.

Mrs Power has been forced to take the agonising decision for her own family of five -- including Katie -- to pull out of the trip to make sure all the other children and their parents can still go on December 2.

Young members of the Saturdays club had nominated Katie, from Heaton, to be treated to the trip with money from the charity fund as she has battled through a difficult year having undergone a major operation on her disfigured feet.

One of her legs is now in plaster and she is struggling to get around on crutches after a metal frame was removed from the knee which had been holding the limb in place for 16 weeks since the operation.

Mrs Power said: "I can't possibly ask anyone else to drop out because I would feel dreadful. The tour operator has promised to give us our money back so that we can book another trip, but the whole point was that we wanted to travel as a big group."

Glynis Jeffery from Transun, which has run Lapland trips for the past nine years, said: "We have no record of the other bookings having taken place and the flight is fully booked-up.

"I just wish we could wave a magic wand, but this isn't even a case of a money problem, this is a physical problem because the plane is full.

"But everyone, including the managing director, is doing their best to try to get a bigger aircraft." Barry Harthern, who owned Astley Bridge Travel, said: "I definitely passed the five extra names onto the tour operator and they should have a record of that.

"I did my very best to make sure all the money was collected from the group that is going to Lapland and would certainly not want children to miss out on the trip of a lifetime."

Local ABTA spokesman Andrew Dickson, who runs St Andrew's Travel, has pledged to help the Powers to still visit Lapland and said: "It's deeply regretful that any customers who have booked with an ABTA travel agent have been inconvenienced in this way, especially a group like this, but I will do my very best to help."