The designer of the London Eye, Marks Barfield Architects, has accused the attraction’s investment partners – British Airways (BA) and Tussauds Group – of endangering the attraction’s long-term future by blocking a refinancing deal.

The originators and architects of the Eye, David Marks and Julia Barfield, have written to the CEOs of Tussauds and BA, stating their regret over the failure to refinance the London Eye Company, which owns the attraction.

The London Eye Company is equally controlled by the three partners.

Marks said: “Tussaud’s is blocking the Eye’s refinancing. At every turn, they have sought to gain overall control of the company we created. We will not allow that to happen, but Tussauds is now threatening the long term financial future of the Eye.”

He claims that future plans to develop the attraction are consequently now at risk and these claims threaten to overspill into an ownership argument of the Eye.

Although profit from the attraction before tax and interest was £12.8m in 2003, pre-tax losses were £10.9m while Tussauds also took four per cent of the revenue collected as an annual management fee to cover the attraction’s running costs – another contentious issue for Marks.

In his statement, Marks concluded: “We call upon Tussauds to bring an end to this posturing and stop standing in the way of a refinancing which would preserve the London Eye’s independence and integrity for the future enjoyment of Londoners and visitors.” Details: www.marksbarfield.com