She said: “I’ve dragged my three friends along with me and we’ve been here since 5.30am. I should have been in work at 8am but I’ve taken holiday leave to be here.

“I’ll be gutted if I can’t get tickets, I think I’ll cry.”

When the girls eventually got to the front of the queue they were told the only remaining tickets were the expensive ones at £95.

The same happened to Dave Halpin, 19, a student from Formby.

He said: “We wanted the £75 ones but they were all sold out by the time we got to the front of the queue. It doesn’t really seem fair since we were in the queue from about 7am but I’m just relieved we managed to get some.

“A few people around us were annoyed that they couldn’t get the cheaper tickets. One guy couldn’t afford the extra but his mate lent him some money.”

Tim Banfield, general manager of the ECHO arena, said they had tried hard to strike a successful balance.

He said: “We try very hard to meet the demands of all our customers whether on-line, over the phones and in person at the Box Office across all ticket prices, however tickets are sold on a first come first served basis and due to the popularity of the artist the event sold out very quickly and some customers will have been left disappointed.