A ticket holder at that recent Meat Loaf concert in Newcastle Upon Tyne where the rock legend walked off stage early because he was suffering from what turned out to be a cyst on his vocal cords is planning legal action to force promoters to give ticket refunds, and he is encouraging others to join him.
Promoters have said that Meat Loaf had performed for 70 minutes before ill health forced him to leave the stage, and that as such they do not deem it necessary to refund ticket holders, even though he did not complete the whole planned concert.
However, one fan, Mike Fisher, who paid over £50 for his ticket, claims that Meat Loaf actually only performed for 40 minutes and that that is not enough to justify the ticket price. He says his calls to the venue, promoter and ticket seller Ticketmaster to discuss a refund have not been returned, and now he plans to take the case to the city's small claims court, and he hopes to persuade other ticket holders to back his action.
He told local newspaper The Northern Echo: "I am proposing that since we are not getting any reply, we start proceedings [together] at Newcastle County Court to get our money back. I am sure [claiming together] would add weight to the argument, rather than 200 or 300 people sending in individual claims, which would cost £80 each. I am sure they [the venue and promoters] will have been inundated with individual claims and they can fob them off".
When contacted by the paper, Paul Tappenden, the Marketing Director of the venue, the Metro FM Arena, stressed that the decision as to whether or not to give ticket refunds lay with the promoter: "They hire the venue for the day and we have no control over the show or the money - it goes to the promoter. Meat Loaf was on stage for one hour and ten minutes or so, and there was a support act. There is almost a rule that once a concert goes over an hour, it is perceived that a show has taken place".
Promoters Kennedy Street Enterprises are yet to comment.