By Luke Cawdell

Medway heavyweight Tom Dallas has had his hopes of performing in front of his hometown fans scuppered.

The unbeaten fighter, pictured, was due to top the bill at the "Men of Kent" boxing show in Lordswood next month, but organiser Mark Roe has been forced to scrap the event.

More than 1,000 spectators were expected to witness the open-air show at Lordswood Sports and Social Club, but Medway Council officials have halted proceedings due to problems with licensing.

Although Lordswood regularly stage sporting events, there was no specific boxing licence, as required by the council.

Roe said: "I have tried to explain that it was going to be a charity event. We had safety and security in place and the police had told us that they had no problems in the staging of the event.

"There has been a fair amount of money already laid out with printing and everything in place. All the banners were made and what we’re going to do is now let boxing fans down, let the community down and there will be no money for the charities."

A Medway council spokesman said: "Unfortunately, Mr Roe only told us of this event at the beginning of (last) week, and this has left no time to get a licence in place for July 10. As it is a boxing event, and due to the fact that around 1,500 people will attend, it needs a licence under the Licensing Act 2003.

"We have given Mr Roe details of alternative local venues that have a licence. We are happy to work with him to gain a licence as quickly as possible if he still wishes to hold it at the Lordwood Sports and Social Club and believe that this could be put in place by August."

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