Brighton's Evening Argus newspaper reported yesterday that "at least a dozen businesses involved in the Beachdown Festival have complained they have either not been paid or their cheques had bounced since the event in August".
Many of the businesses involved are angry that tickets for Beachdown 2009 went on sale last month despite the unpaid bills. However, the organisers have said they will be able to pay people once they receive an expected tax rebate.
Winner Plant in Worthing provided fork-lift trucks to the festival and is now owed more than £5,000. Ian Brown, a director of Winner Plant, was quoted in the Evening Argus, saying: "This is a young company that is still finding its feet and we wanted to help with the festival. The worst thing is we hired the trucks from another company and paid for them in advance so now we're out of pocket. I have spoken to Joe Pidgeon and I am happy that he is going to pay and would be keen to work with him again next year."
A spokesman for the festival said: "On behalf of the Beachdown team who are liaising on a daily basis with all the companies involved in Beachdown, we would like to apologise for the fact that we haven't been able to make all payments as we would have liked to have done. We are in full liaison with every single supplier and would like to reiterate that Beachdown is fully committed to making all payments."
"We are also dedicated to the job of putting on Beachdown 2009, which will enable us to once again produce an opportunity for 40 local businesses and suppliers to sell their produce and products to help to generate over £3 million of revenue for the Sussex community."
(Lee Baldock)
