Chitty crash bang

With the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles in the audience it should have been a night to remember for the cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And so it was, but for all the wrong reasons.

Halfway through the first act, with Prince Charles and his companion clearly enjoying themselves, the £750,000 flying car reversed into the set, bringing a one-tonne ship crashing onto the stage where it narrowly missed members of the production team. It proved impossible to get either Chitty or the ship to move and the management had to send home the disappointed theatre goers, including Prince Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles..

It was the second time the £6.2 million production's run at the London Palladium had come to a halt because of a technical problem with the complicated scenery, of which the flying car, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, is the star.

In April the audience was left outside for up to an hour before being told the show could not go on.

One of the producers, Michael Rose, said last night: "Rather than keep the audience waiting, we bought them a drink and have refunded or are replacing their tickets."

He said Prince Charles and Mrs Parker Bowles met the cast - including Michael Ball, Paul O'Grady, Brian Blessed, and Anton Rogers - at a reception anyway. They will see the rest of the show at a later date. Tonight's performance is expected to go on as usual.

Meanwhile, the Queen attended a British Red Cross gala performance of the hit West End musical Bombay Dreams which went without a hitch at the Apollo Victoria.