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Bestival Curator Rob Da Bank Being Sued Over Unpaid Loan

Former Bestival curator, Rob da Bank, is being sued for more than £600,000 over an unpaid loan.

The Island resident — real name Robert Gorham — is accused of failing to repay a loan which by TicketLine Network Ltd to save the ailing festival in 2018, according to the Mail Online.

A court heard the event was 'not well-managed', and even before its eventual demise after the 2018 event, had frequently been on the verge of disaster, with repeated cash crises.

It's reported that the 2018 festival almost had to be cancelled because he was unable to pay for portable toilets and was only saved by a last-minute £249,000 cash injection. And he is now being sued by ticket seller, TicketLine Network Ltd, which says it personally loaned Mr Gorham about £1million to keep it going, but he then refused to pay back about £650,000.

(Picture: Rob da Bank at Bestival with Nile Rodgers and Elton John)

The company says it loaned the money directly to Mr Gorham and a co-director to 'save the day,' because they were not confident their money was safe if loaned to the Bestival company.

It's reported that event co-director, John Hughes, accepted the loans were made to the pair of them and that they have to be repaid - but Mr Gorham is fighting the claim in a ten-day trial at Central London County Court.

He claims he never agreed to a personal loan and should not have to pay it back.

The former Radio One DJ founded the Bestival at Robin Hill in 2004, with the show remaining at the site until 2016 - before moving it to Dorset.

The festival collapsed after the cancellation of the 2019 event, with the company behind it 'collapsing into insolvency,' the court heard this week.

Outlining the case against Mr Gorham, TicketLine's barrister Paul Burton said the Bestival Group of businesses had suffered 'numerous cashflow emergencies.'

The DJ's barrister Jonathan Miller said: "Our case is that it was not a personal loan - and what they say happened, didn't happen - in a nutshell."

Giving evidence, Mr Gorham told the judge that he had not been heavily involved in the financial side of the company, with other employees dealing with that side of the business.

He said:

"This was a multi-million pound, very busy business, with me driving the customer-facing side and the artists, a whole raft of things in the festival world. The finance and accounting was not my department."

He added: "I never signed up for a personal loan."

The trial continues.

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