A Shropshire mum today spoke of her terror after a Christmas lights switch-on in Birmingham featuring X Factor stars JLS resulted in scores of people being injured in a crowd surge.

Victoria Royce-Pagett, of Bridgnorth, queued for two hours to get into Saturday’s event at Millennium Point after her daughter Lucy, 11, who is a huge JLS fan, begged her to go. But what should have been a fun day out turned into a nightmare.

A barrier collapsed under the weight of 20,000 fans surging forward.

The concert, also set to feature a host of other stars including the Sugababes and Alexandra Burke, was cancelled after 60 people were injured.

Mrs Royce-Pagett today said it was a terrifying experience.

“We got there nice and early and queued, but as time went on more and more people were arriving and there was less and less space,” she said.

“It got to the stage where we simply couldn’t move. My daughter could not look forward because she was squashed against my chest and we were both terrified – we just wanted to get out of there.”

Massive

The 34-year-old said there was a massive surge as the chart-topping band came on the stage.

“It was quickly turning sour,” she said. “One girl cut her head after being hit by a Coke can and there were aerosols flying around. We felt a fight was about to break out so we decided to just get out of there.”

The mum hit out at Birmingham City Council for its organisation of the event.

“There were no police there hardly, no Red Cross provision, you would think the council would have experience of organising mass events,” she added.

“You can’t put on a free concert featuring 10 of the biggest acts in this country at the moment and not expect people from the length and breadth of the country to turn out.”

JLS said today they were “devastated” people had been injured at the concert.

A statement on the band’s website by group member Marvin said: “We are so, so sad to see that people got injured at the gig.

“It was meant to be a great event with some other amazing acts on the bill and we’re just gutted that everyone’s day was spoilt. We just hope that everyone who was injured has a speedy recovery.”

An investigation has been launched by Birmingham City Council.

The lights were switched on during the annual reindeer parade yesterday.