A ticketholder with immunosuppressant issues has hit out at a decision to cancel this evening's Cirque du Soleil performances at Braehead Arena, whilst allowing the afternoon show to go ahead amid the coronavirus crisis.
Cirque Du Soleil announced on social media that today's 5pm show would be cancelled but that the 1pm show would go ahead as planned.
The touring company previously announced that yesterday's performances would go ahead, despite an "immediate temporary suspension" of the Crystal touring show in the UK, prompting ticketholders to hit out at the decision.
Sarah Osborne had tickets to see today's 1pm show, however, due to her health conditions, she had earlier decided not to attend.
Sarah had a kidney transplant in 2013 and is now on immunosuppressant drugs, placing her in the high risk category for contracting COVID-19.
Speaking to Glasgow Live , she said: "I am a transplant patient, so I'm immunocompromised, so I had already made the decision not to attend the shows. I was quite willing to accept that I was making that choice and if the show was going ahead, I would lose money.
"However, when we saw that Cirque Du Soleil had cancelled all onward shows from Sunday to all other venues - and again, I accepted that if the shows were to go ahead this weekend, I would lose money.
"But then I discovered that the 5pm show was cancelled but the 1pm was going ahead.
"I've contacted Cirque Du Soleil and Braehead and both told me that it wasn't their decision whether the shows went ahead."
Sarah explained that the decision to only cancel one of the shows left her feeling disappointed and very angry.
She said: "It just seems so unfair to cancel one show but not the other. I'm now £150 out of pocket - if I'd gone to the 5pm show, I'd have a full refund.
"It seems that I, an immunosuppressed transplant patient, am safe to go at 1pm but those attending at 5 are much more at risk.
"I am disgusted at how this has been managed. I feel very angry and very let down."
Cirque Du Soleil explained in a response to a tweet that the decision to only cancel the 5pm show was so that performers could get home before the travel bans were further implemented.
It read: "We have employees from all over the world, and so we made the decision to cancel the 5pm show of CRYSTAL to enable them to travel home to their families safely before any additional travel bans. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for understanding."
