HEADLINE acts went unpaid at a dance music festival in Poole branded a “shambles” by angry ticket holders.

The Southern Sound Festival held at Canford Park Arena on September 19 and 20 had been billed as hosting the “world’s most prestigious artists”.

But frustrated festival-goers, many of whom paid £70 for their tickets, were left disappointed after many of the promised big names, including Saturday headliners Freestylers, Audio Bullys and Bodyrox, as well as Chicane, Utah Saints and Showtek, on Sunday, didn’t perform.

After a story appeared in the Daily Echo and then on BBC’s Watchdog programme, DJ duo Jon Pearn and Nick Bridges, from Bodyrox, contacted us to “set the record straight”.

They said they and other acts were not paid and also ended up shelling out for their expenses – including footing their hotel bills.

Nick said: “We hadn’t received the deposit, but we went anyway. We didn’t want to let people down who’d bought tickets for the festival.”

He said they even pushed their set back to give the organisers more time to find the money, and were offered payment in cash, which never materialised.

“I think they had some cash flow problems, I guess down to ticket sales not going well,” he added.

Jon said acts and security guards had swarmed around the production office.

“We were all being told money would be arriving. Everybody wanted to get paid.”

The Echo has tried to contact organiser Jonathan Lane. His phone was off and the voice box full. He didn’t respond to our text message.

But he told BBC1’s Watchdog “80 per cent of the acts” had been confirmed and paid for in advance.

But he conceded he had expected ticket sales to pick up in the run-up to the event, which never happened.

Mr Lane added his family had lost around £100,000 in putting on the festival and with his company going into liquidation, any refunds were unlikely.