FURIOUS dance music fans have complained after a festival was cancelled days before it was due to open – with organisers blaming sheep poo.

Westlea-registered company Boyaka Ltd said their health and safety advisers told them to pull Bristol’s Another World festival. Farm fields due to host revellers were covered in excrement.

Ticketholders expressed their shock at the sheep poo excuse, saying they were the ones who felt fleeced. A major draw for the festival was its link to dance rave brand Fantazia.

Joanna Rogers, of North Swindon, said: “The line-up supposedly included many DJs from the old Fantazia days, so we were looking forward to seeing them. Friends of ours currently live in Holland, so are travelling over for it, so not only have paid for tickets, but travel at a cost of £300 as well.

“The organiser just needs to take responsibility, stop blaming the farm and refund people. Saying it’s rescheduled to next year is not acceptable, as he’s already rescheduled it and changed locations twice. It will never happen now as no decent DJ would go within a mile of this organiser.”

The Swindon Advertiser attempted to track down Boyaka Ltd. Official papers show it as registered at Glenmore Business Park, off Mead Way.

But when we visited the business park on Friday, there was no sign of Boyaka or owner Lee Barnard. An office tenant said the firm had moved some time ago: “A couple of months ago a woman came in and asked if there was any post.” The firm had not left a forwarding address.

In a statement emailed to ticket holders, Another World said: “We cannot begin to tell you how disappointed team are for this unprecedented series of events. Health and safety is our number one priority.

“While we are working on changing the date of the festival, we appreciate this is a huge disappointment to many and as such we are working towards being able to offer refunds for those not wanting to or able to join us.

“We strongly refute claims by reports in the media stating the festival is a scam. The assessment from our operations / health and safety team confirmed the fields planned for use were not safe for the public. Despite our best efforts we could not find a safe, workable solution to this.”

Speaking to the Bristol Post, festival organiser Lee ‘Boyaka’ Barnard said: “This is the worst day of our lives. After being messed around by two venues and having to move the festival twice, to get this close to the event and be forced into postponing the event is the stuff of nightmares for us as event organisers.”

Mr Barnard has been contacted for this article.