THE director of the company behind the cancelled Park Proms event has spoken out after customers expressed concerns over refunds.

Michael Hlavaty, the director of Podium Events Group said his team are working tirelessly to process refund requests after the 2021 event was cancelled due to concerns around COVID-19.

The event was originally planned to take place at Broadlands Estate in Romsey beginning on August 27, with big names such as Pixie Lott, Scouting for Girls and Eliza and the Bear expected to perform.

But after what organisers said had been a “very tough” 18 months for the industry, the event was cancelled with all acts moved over to the new 2022 date. All tickets were also automatically rolled over to next years event as well.

Since then, organisers have come under fire from some customers upset with how long it is taking to get refunds.

One ticket-holder, 25-year-old Molly Bevan from Winchester said she has been waiting around a month for her money.

Having purchased four tickets she claims she is owed £240.

She said: “They emailed me a form that I had to fill out for a refund, so I did that and sent it back the next day, and I didn’t hear anything.

“I was checking their social media and I realised you could no longer comment on their Facebook or Instagram.”

Phone lines have been turned off for Park Proms with an automated email response set up.

Molly added: “I’ve never experienced this in my life. Its been a hard year for everyone, I understand that, but Boardmasters has happened, Download has happened, so many bigger festivals have happened.”

Citizens Advice advised Molly to write a letter to organisers but she said she’s ready to give up on getting her money back.

Mr Hlavaty said however that his team have been working since the refund window closed on July 27 to process all requests.

He said: “We had the heartbreaking decision that we had to postpone due to the continued uncertainty around COVID-19, but we have been overwhelmed by the support of our customers, with the vast majority of those rolling their tickets over to 2022.

“We tried to make it as easy as possible to fill those [refund] forms in. Since we closed that window, we then collated those refund requests and then we’re working tirelessly on getting Park Proms reorganised and those refund requests processed.

“Our team is working as hard as they can but because we are a small team we made the decision to turn the phone lines off just so we could get back to people’s emails as quickly as possible.”

Refunds are processed in the order they were received, he said.