AN international opera singer has taken his hometown theatre to court in a payment dispute.

Bacup-born tenor Sean Ruane filed a county court claim against Bacup Royal Court Theatre for payment of £3,018 for a sell-out gig.

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He took action after theatre chiefs paid him just half the money six weeks after his appearance alongside other artists in early February.

Mr Ruane said: "It’s so sad that it has come to this, but I wasn’t getting any communication from the theatre. They weren’t answering my emails or phone calls and it worried me. I had to take action and go to the court.”

In his evidence to the court, he said he signed a contract with the Rochdale Road theatre to be paid within 10 working days of his performance.

Theatre bosses, who admit they owe Mr Ruane the rest of the money, said they were struggling financially because another show was cancelled landing them with ticket refunds, and they also received two ‘large and unexpected’ utility bills.

Last month, the court issued an order for the outstanding £2,013, including court fees and legal costs, to be paid by October 2.

The court confirmed this was not paid and now the singer, who has sung the national anthem at England football matches at Wembley and the Ashes, said he was now considering options available to the court to reclaim the cash, such as sending bailiffs into the theatre to extract property worth the same as his outstanding payment.

Mr Ruane said: “I have a young family to feed and am not running a charity.

“I’ve played at the Royal Court for free before now, just to get bums on seats and bring this type of theatre to Bacup, because I grew up in the town and care about the theatre.

“I offered the theatre 25 per cent of the profits, when usually it is between 18 and 20 per cent, just because I know the theatre is struggling financially and I want it to thrive."

Mr Ruane said in evidence that four weeks after the performance, two cheques from the theatre bounced. He said he paid the Lomax Brothers and John Grogan, his accompanying artists, and other fees out of his own pocket.

According to court papers the singer was asked if he would accept the payment in instalments, which he agreed to.

Mr Ruane said he contacted his solicitor on March 24, days after the first instalment was due and he could not get hold of the theatre.

A spokesman for the theatre said: “We had two large and unexpected utility bills and we couldn’t afford to pay him. The theatre is struggling and we do our best.

“Sean has been performing here for 10 years. He knows he will get paid. It’s a sad shame that it’s come to this and that he couldn’t just deal with us, instead of going down the legal route.

“We admitted that we needed to pay him and we paid him £1,700, which is what we could afford at the time. We are hoping to have paid him by the end of next week. We really hope the worst case scenario doesn’t happen.”

A spokesman for Burnley County Court said: “The defendant admitted the claim judgement has gone to the claimant and owes the claimant £2,013.

“It is up to the claimant how they would like to proceed now. The options open are for a warrant of control, a charge of property, a seizing of monies, a charging order to a third party who owes the defendant money, or for the defendant to file for bankruptcy.”