Young Spice Girls fans were left devastated after a transmission failure meant the band's recent Wembley concert did not reach their sitting room.

Corina Harper and her pal Layla Harwood, both ten, settled down to watch their heroines perform live from Wembley Stadium.

Corina's mum, Claire, had booking in advance with ComTel to see the show - but it never appeared.

Mrs Harper, of Radley Green, near Abingdon, said: "ComTel had been advertising for weeks to have the concert live in the front room.

"We had all the kiddies waiting for it in the front room in their pyjamas.

"At 7pm it didn't come on so we phoned ComTel and they said it would be. "We waited but there was still nothing.

"It took us two hours to get through and we were told it was a transmission failure and there was nothing they could do.

"How can you explain to little kids?

"If there was a problem why couldn't they put that on the screen?"

Mrs Harper said that after desperately ringing round they found friends with Sky and went to watch it at their house.

"The girls missed the first part of the concert," she said.

"They're great fans, they're always up in the bedroom dancing and singing.

"How many other children missed out?"

ComTel spokesman Will Cairns said: "ComTel apologises for the problems experienced in receiving the Spice Girls' concert.

"We will be compensating Mrs Harper for the inconvenience, which was caused by a software fault.

"ComTel are working to ensure our customers receive maximum enjoyment and entertainment from our Pay Per View Service."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.