A DISGRUNTLED mum is demanding her money back after a seating mix-up at a school choir performance resulted in a “catastrophic” evening.

Joanne Shellam spent £40 on tickets to see her son Bobby, eight, sing alongside fellow pupils from Oldbury Park Primary School, Worcester, at the Genting Arena, Birmingham.

However, she says a promise that parents would be seated near to where pupils were positioned on stage was not honoured.

The seating plan was due to account for the fact that 5,000 pupils were taking part in the Young Voices event on January 11. However, Mrs Shellan said she could not see her child or his classmates from her seat.

In an email to the organisers, Mrs Shellam called the mix-up a “slap in the face” for the parents and 240 Oldbury Park pupils.

She said: “We were disappointingly seated in the only area of the arena where we had absolutely no view of our school.

“When shout outs were given to schools or when the spotlights dramatically panned round in the dark to build the excitement of if your children could be spotted, merely highlighted our ridiculous situation. I had stomach cramps from the effort of keeping it together and I actually had to stop thinking about the situation in order not to burst into tears.

She added: “It is fair to say that the other parents felt the same way. I also hope you will give this matter your earliest attention and investigate how this catastrophic situation could have arisen.”

Mrs Shellam wants a refund for the £20 tickets bought for herself and her husband.

Oldbury Park headteacher Sarah Boyce, said she was “extremely disappointed with the whole situation” - the third time the school has entered a Young Voices concert.

She said: “After this year, we were seriously considering having to re-think the whole adventure.”

She said Young Voices apologised, promised the school "pride of place in the choir" next year and waived the 2019 entry fee.

A Young Voices spokeswoman called the mix-up “very rare” and said: “We are able to confirm that any parents who notified us of the issue on the night were upgraded to VIP seats.

"We are sorry to discover that some parents who remained in the original seats didn’t have a good view of their children.”