THE future of a major annual music event could be threatened because of poor organisation.

BBC Radio One's One Big Sunday takes place annually at Middlesbrough's Stewart Park, attracting thousands of music lovers from throughout the region.

In previous years, it has featured stars including Victoria Beckham and Melanie Blatt.

It first encountered problems prior to Middlesbrough Council's granting of a public entertainment licence last year, when concerns were raised over the fans of duo DJ Luck and MC Neat.

The firm responsible for security, Showsec, said the fans were known troublemakers, and doubted if they could be controlled.

After the council gave the go-ahead, the event went ahead as planned, but not without problems.

The turnout was less than 20,000, compared with a prediction of up to 50,000 and the council received 15 complaints about the noise.

Concerns were also raised about food safety and the stewards.

More seriously, Radio One presenter Jamie Theakston announced the end of the event prematurely, prompting people to leave Stewart Park before a planned road closure took effect.

As a result, people were left to dodge the traffic on Ladgate Lane, while others descended on a nearby fair and wreaked havoc.

Licensing officer PC Revis Phillips said: "Everyone spilled out on to Ladgate Lane and there were quite a lot of fights in the fairground. We had to call for further assistance from the community policing team and close the fairground early.

"Radio One seems to be a law unto itself.

"It was very slow in giving us details of the line-up and being such a big company, you would think they would be more professional."

A spokesman for Radio One said: "We are always happy to talk to councils about making events even better."