A Garston man has been left disappointed after missing out on the start of a Harry Hill show at the Watford Colosseum this week after venue organisers failed to inform customers of a time change.

After booking tickets with his brother six months ago, Paul Mathews wasn’t expecting to turn up half an hour late for the Wednesday evening stand up comedy he thought was scheduled for an 8pm start.

Mr Mathews says the first half of The Sausage Time show was spoiled because organisers at the Watford Colosseum had failed to inform people who had brought their tickets through Ticketmaster, there would be an earlier start of 7.30pm.

The 40-year-old said: "One of Harry Hill’s catch phrases is 'What are the chances of that happening?' And I think this is very fitting.

"I booked my tickets on the first day of sale six months ago and you would think that is enough time for people to be organised. It is something really simple that the Watford Colosseum should not be getting wrong.

"Me and my brother, Simon, were initially told we wouldn't be able to take our seats until the interval and would have to stand at the side like naughty school boys in an assembly.

"However in the end we decided to find our seats and had to push past other people with our coats on, in the dark tripping over people’s legs until we found them."

When realising the mistake, venue organisers postponed the start of the show until 7.50pm. However Mr Mathews said this was not good enough.

He said: "It may have started later but if they realised they had informed some customers of a wrong start time, they should have pushed it back more than just 20 minutes to wait for us to arrive.

"You don’t really expect this from such a great venue and it is disappointing because the first half of the show was spoiled.

"It’s a shame because we won’t get another opportunity to go and see Harry Hill again."

Mr Mathews paid £33.50 for his ticket and said he will be contacting the venue to demand a part refund.

The venue director and duty manager have denied Mr Mathews was advised to wait until the interval to be seated and said audience members who turned up after 7.50pm were seated immediately by duty managers and ushers.

Jeanette Larkin, spokesman from the Watford Colosseum said: "Unfortunately the Colosseum mistakenly informed Ticketmaster that the show start time was 8pm instead of 7.30pm.

"As this mistake was only discovered on the night of the show we were unable to contact Ticketmaster customers to inform them of the earlier start time.

"On the evening, Harry Hill and his tour manager kindly agreed to postpone the start of the show for 20 minutes, by which time almost all the audience had arrived and been seated."