A gigs promoter who was embroiled in a row with the Manx government over loss-making concerts is facing the music over a festival fiasco in Liverpool.

The two-day Liverpool music festival Hope and Glory was cancelled on Sunday after a disastrous first day that saw long queues, delays, fans turned away and bands pulling out.

Thousands of fans were made to wait hours when St. George’s quarter became overcrowded. Police were called in to help manage the crowds.

Headliner Charlotte Church asked for help to find an alternative venue after she was axed from the line-up due to the delays.

Festival promoter was Lee O’Hanlon, director of TinyCow, which was the booking agent for the Tom Jones concert in Noble’s Park in July 2016 and The Jacksons show at the Villa in 2014.

TinyCow became embroiled in a dispute with the Department of Economic Development over the costs of organising the Tom Jones show. Mr O’Hanlon claimed he was being ’cheated’ out of his return on investment. This was denied by the DED which offered to settle the matter through mediation.

A spokesman for Hope and Glory said the decision to cancel the festival was made with the ’deepest regret’.

He said: ’We can appreciate how disappointed and angry the festival-goers are as we are feeling the same. To say that the organisers feel anything short of devastated would be a gross understatement.

’Whilst we accept responsibility for our festival, we believe it is important that we are wholly transparent with the issues that led to our decision.

’We are conducting a full review into what happened.

’The festival accepts its responsibility but the public attending the festival need to know the truth behind our decision to sadly cancel the festival. We already know at this early stage that we be taking legal action against some parties employed as a result of the failures.’