Police are investigating chaotic scenes at an overcrowded Birmingham nightclub which left New Year’s Eve party goers fearing for their safety.
Hundreds of revellers descended on the main room at The Custard Factory’s New Year’s Eve Festival to celebrate with friends.
But jubilation turned into pandemonium when the hall became overcrowded.
One guest said he cracked two ribs in a manic bid to escape the heaving main arena at the Digbeth nightspot.
And another made a desperate exit after his girlfriend complained she was struggling to breathe.
Police were forced to stop people from entering the venue as the chaos erupted.
Officers arrested two people during the mayhem.
And Birmingham trading standards have received several complaints about the party
It is the second time the city’s seasonal festivities have been marred by controversy.
Last month sixty people were injured during the Christmas lights switch when crowds surged out of control while watching a range of bands including JLS.
Dozens of angry Custard Factory revellers have posted complaints on the social networking site Facebook about the ill-fated New Year’s Eve celebrations.
Some have branded the organisers as ‘money grabbing’ and say they sold too many tickets and did not hire enough security staff.
They have demanded explanations and full refunds on their tickets, which ranged from £15 to almost £30 for entry to the VIP lounge.
And they have further complained that the VIP area was not policed and could be entered by anyone.
Ant Bailey wrote: “Yep, two cracked ribs to help remember this night. The poor organisation meant people being trampled, it was a joke.
“Letting people in until the police turned up, oversold and understaffed, who do we contact to ask for our money back?
“Never seen anything like it!”
Gary Dyke wrote: “My girlfriend was struggling to breathe because of the idiots pushing from behind.
“Money-grabbing, oversold, poor planning.”
Another guest Nath Harris said: “Way oversold! You’re seriously lucky nothing kicked off and nobody got hurt.”
Simon Jones, MD of Factory Events, joint-organisers of the event, said the security staff hired were not experienced enough, but denied too many tickets were sold.
They have pledged to offer full refunds to paid up guests with ‘genuine complaints’.
He said: “The tickets were not oversold.
“The line the police are taking is that because so many people arrived late our risk assessment was not adequate and we had not seen it as being a problem.
“We are looking at the security situation. We requested more than adequate security for the night but the people who came were not experienced.
“If there’s a genuine cause for complaint there will be refunds.
“We’ve been doing this for 15 years and never had anything like this before.
“Maybe we could have specified on the Early Bird tickets that holders must enter before a certain time to avoid them turning up late.
“In the end we had 300 people standing outside in the cold.
“The mistakes we made we will learn from and go forward.”
He added that Factory Events, which has run music nights at The Custard Factory for more than 15 years, plans to meet with the police’s licensing officers on Tuesday, January 12 to devise a new public safety strategy.
A police spokesman said: “Police attended The Custard Factory at 12.10am on Friday, January 1, 2010.
“A large number of people were found inside the premises and gathered at the entrance and officers were concerned about crushing and public safety due to overcrowding inside and pushing outside.
“Officers stopped any more customers from entering the club and cleared the entrance of the crowd of people.
“Fortunately no-one was injured as a result.
“Two people were arrested, one for assault and one for public order.
“There is an ongoing investigation into the incident by the licensing team at Steelhouse Lane police station.”
A Birmingham City Council spokesman said the authority’s Trading Standards team had received a number of complaints.
