
The decision to cancel the event took place the morning after the first session on Thursday (8 October), following a debrief with the organiser.
According to a statement on the London venue’s website, the cancellation was a result of operational and safety issues on behalf of Oktoberfest UK Limited, the company that was to run the four-day (8-11 October) event.
The statement reads: "In line with our policies and terms & conditions of hire, our operations team issued strict operational and safety guidelines throughout the planning process and were unhappy that, at the opening event last Thursday night, these had not been fully implemented."
Tobacco Dock's operations team, in consultation with EEP, the venue's approved security provider were not convinced that Oktoberfest UK Limited could make the necessary changes required to run the event in a safe and efficient manner.
The cancellation was not due to an over sale of tickets, with the venue noting that the cancellation did not reflect either the number of guests at the event or the nature of the event.
The statement reads: "[The cancellation was due to] the management and operational systems and insufficient serving staff both in terms of numbers and experience that had been put in place by Oktoberfest UK."
The venue noted that Oktoberfest UK is responsible for dealing with the refund of both tickets and ticket holder enqueries, as opposed to Tobacco Dock Venue Limited.
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