Organisers of a music festival sold tickets to its event despite not being granted permission by the council.
Phoenix Festival, set to take place on Sherdley Park, St Helens, next May, has been cancelled after the organisers behind the idea failed to gain the correct permissions to hold the festival, before they started selling tickets. Wonderland Music Ltd/Summerfest Ltd were also behind the failed Summerfest, which was set to take place in Blackburn in May 2022, with a very similar line up to Phoenix Festival.
In the wake of Summerfest's cancellation, customers were reportedly left out of pocket and unable to claim a refund. The organisers claimed "the current economic climate causing increased costs out of our control" as the reason for the cancellation.