GAZETTE & HERALD: SECURITY firm boss Billy Hawkins fears the collapse of his business after organisers of Chippenham's Eddie Cochran Festival left him penniless.

Pro-Guard Security in Swindon provided 24-hour security before, during and after the musical spectacle, but Mr Hawkins, 29, said he had to fork out most wages from his own pocket when the organisers paid him just £1,800 of the £7,500 bill.

Now he says the business, which he has been building up painstakingly for a year will almost certainly fold as a result of the event's problems.

"This has ruined me," Mr Hawkins said. "I'm feeling very angry. I couldn't get a straight answer out of the organisers about being paid at the time. They kept putting me off."

The three-day festival, staged as a tribute to Cochran who died following a car crash on Rowden Hill, Chippenham in 1960 failed to pull in the anticipated 6,000 people a day.

Despite luring fans from across the world, organisers couldn't recoup the estimated £360,000 it cost to stage.

And last month John Knight, joint organiser of the festival and member of the Eddie Cochran Appreciation Society (ECAP) was forced to write to creditors telling them of a "very substantial financial deficit."

He said he has no funds to pay many of the outstanding debts, which arose from September's event and does not anticipate finding any.

But Mr Knight has told the Gazette that the show will rock on this year to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the singer's death.

Mr Hawkins said: "I'm more than £5,000 down. For a very small business like mine, that's an incredible blow."

Mr Knight said: "I really sympathise with Mr Hawkins. The last thing I want is for people like him with a small business to have problems, but there's nothing the ECAP can do."