Children were forced to wear their winter coats through a Christmas pantomime performance when a Southend theatre's heating system broke down.

Mother-of-two Rae Carlton left the Palace Theatre, London Road, Westcliff, in a rage after sitting through yesterday morning's performance of Pinocchio in the freezing cold.

A council spokesman said: "The heating system was not in operation after the main pump failed this morning. An engineer was called immediately but was unable to replace the part necessary.

"As a result, portable heaters were brought in as a temporary measure in time for the second performance. It would have been impractical for the Palace Theatre to contact all ticket holders in time for today's first performance, especially when it was not known what the problem was or whether it could be fixed until the engineer had arrived.

"The council would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by this unfortunate event and would like to reassure all other spectators that this should not be a problem in the future.

"It is hoped that the heating will be fixed by tomorrow but portable heating will remain until the problem has been resolved just in case."