Hope & Glory Festival Liverpool: Fans demand refunds

Disgruntled fans who bought tickets to a “chaotic” music festival are demanding refunds after the event was cancelled on the second day.

Hope & Glory Festival, headlined by James at Liverpool’s St Georges Quarter, was pulled on Sunday.

There were reports of overcrowding, long delays for artists and acts axed at the last minute on Saturday.

Organisers said it was pulled over safety concerns. The city council said there would be an “urgent inquiry”.

Anselm Grant, from Blackburn, Lancashire, tweeted he had tried a number of times to get a response from Eventbrite and festival organisers but had had no reply.

He said it had “cost me £600 for tickets and with hotel and travel”.

Lynne Carruthers tweeted organisers that she had travelled from Glasgow to the event.

“You’ve skinned us. Please tell us how to get our money back,” she wrote.

Festival organisers told the BBC: “We cancelled the event because we felt parties employed to deliver the festival had not done so to ensure Sunday would be a safe event.”

In a statement, they said they “accepted ultimate responsibility” and “profusely apologised” to the public.

They added people who bought tickets for the event should contact the relevant ticketing company for refunds.

A spokesman added: “If tickets were purchased from the festival’s official website, the majority were bought through Eventbrite.”

Eventbrite said it goes to “great lengths” to ensure all customers are treated fairly when an event is cancelled and will work with organisers “to clarify whether impacted attendees can be refunded”.

Police had to help open up another entrance on the first day of the festival – which was attended by 12,500 people – amid long waits and poor access to toilets and food and drink facilities.

James did manage to get on stage but lead singer Tim Booth tweeted afterwards: “Sorry everyone was messed around so badly.

“Hope you managed to find some pleasure amongst the chaos.”

Charlotte Church, who was pulled from the line-up on Saturday due to the delays, ended up playing a set at Liquidation Liverpool after making a plea for a venue on social media.

Likewise, the Lightning Seeds also asked on Twitter for a suitable venue to do a gig on Sunday night.

They played a set along with Clean Cut Kid at Liverpool’s Zanzibar.

Other bands on the bill included The Fratellis, Razorlight and Ocean Colour Scene.

Labour-run Liverpool City Council said the weekend festival was a private event which was licensed by the authority to run for three years.

The mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson tweeted: “There will be an urgent inquiry into what went disastrously wrong here.”

Councillor Richard Kemp, leader of Liverpool’s Liberal Democrats, has asked the city council for a “full report” to be made public on the problems.

The city council said the organisers had 25 years’ experience in the live music industry and plans were “robust and independently assessed and approved”.

It added: “All efforts will now be made to understand what lessons can be learnt.”

It said the perishable items left at the site were taken to the Whitechapel Centre, a Liverpool-based charity for the homeless.