A CONTROVERSIAL comic hit out at an “enormous balls up” as he believed venue staff did not appear to know he was scheduled to perform until he arrived.

Veteran funnyman Jim Davidson turned up at Colchester’s Charter Hall on Saturday afternoon prepared to perform his On The Road Again show that evening.

But according to Mr Davidson, staff appeared to be none the wiser about his upcoming performance and the venue was not set up for him.

The former host of legendary BBC television shows Big Break and the Generation Game took to social media to tell his 154,000 Twitter followers about what had happened.

He said: “Turned up at Charter Hall, Colchester. Doesn’t look like I am on.

“No staff, no box office, no posters. No flyers and a handful of seats. The place looks shut.

“That’s the thing with playing sports halls. The bar is two trestle tables, two fridges and three tills.”

Mr Davidson went onto say turning up was a waste of time, but that he was deciding to stay for the fans who had paid to see the show.

He then took aim at ticketing for the event, saying it had been falsely advertised as sold out.

He said: “This gets better by the minute. The website says sold out.

“In reality there are 300 tickets left.

“Management lady said promoter said ‘Don’t sell anymore than 600’. Eh?”

But Mr Davidson, 64, then eventually praised staff for their reaction following the “enormous balls up” and posted a picture of Colchester Council councillor responsible for waste Martin Goss (Lib Dem) who he said had helped sort things out.

Speaking to the Gazette, Mr Davidson said: “No problems just communication problems tinged with ********.

“There were 300 seats left to sell, venue saying they were told not to sell them. Crazy or lazy.

“Not the fans’ fault. The show goes on.”

The comedian who has been in show businesses since the Seventies has previously been criticised for the offensive content of his routines.

Charter Hall in Cowdray Avenue is run by a commercial arm of Colchester Council called Amphora Trading.

A spokesman said: “There were a number of small concerns raised by Jim Davidson on the night which were resolved by Charter Hall staff and Martin Goss, who happened to be visiting Leisure World at the time.

“The show went ahead as planned.”