Hundreds of families were left devastated on Christmas Day after a popular steak restaurant closed without warning, despite diners having already paid more than £100 per person for their festive meal.

Customers booked to dine at Miller & Carter in Hockley Heath, Solihull, said their Christmas plans were thrown into chaos after the restaurant announced shortly after 1pm on December 25 that it would be unable to open due to an electrical fault. Many had reserved places weeks in advance for the chain's Christmas Day set menu, which typically costs £105 per head.

Hundreds of families were left devastated on Christmas Day after a popular steak restaurant closed without warning, despite diners having already paid more than £100 per person for their festive meal.

Customers booked to dine at Miller & Carter in Hockley Heath, Solihull, said their Christmas plans were thrown into chaos after the restaurant announced shortly after 1pm on December 25 that it would be unable to open due to an electrical fault. Many had reserved places weeks in advance for the chain's Christmas Day set menu, which typically costs £105 per head.

In a statement posted on the restaurant's Facebook page at 1.20pm, Miller & Carter said an "unexpected electrical issue" had caused the entire extractor fan system in the kitchen to fail, making it unsafe to operate. Engineers had reportedly worked throughout the morning but were unable to fix the problem.

"There is no easy way to say this," the post read. "We have had engineers working all morning to try and resolve this issue but unfortunately are unable to do so. This means we are unable to open our kitchens today."

Some customers said the announcement came after their booked dining times had already passed. One diner, who asked not to be named, told the Mirror that "hundreds" of people had already paid in full and were relying on the restaurant for their Christmas dinner.

"This is disastrous," they said. "People won't have food in for their own Christmas dinner and their plans have been completely scuppered."

Among those affected was James Munro, who said he lost around £1,300 after booking a 12pm Christmas lunch for himself and 12 family members. His sister had travelled from Devon to spend Christmas with the family, only for their plans to unravel at the last minute.

"We heard about the closure roughly half an hour before our booking," Mr Munro said. "We thought they might sort it out, so we went down anyway, but were told the extractor unit had failed and they couldn't get the part. Apparently the ovens won't work without it."

He said staff claimed they had tried to call his sister, but she had received no missed calls or messages. "We weren't offered any solution - not even a drink or food to take home. If we'd known earlier, we might have been able to put something together ourselves."

Comments flooded the restaurant's social media page following the announcement, with some customers suggesting the prepared food could have been distributed to booked diners. Others expressed frustration at the timing, while a minority were more understanding, saying technical issues were sometimes unavoidable.

Miller & Carter said affected customers would be contacted by senior management in the following days, but for many families, the damage to their Christmas celebrations had already been done.