On behalf of Faye Dyer, chief executive of The ACC Liverpool Group:
Last night during the S Club concert a back of house sensor was triggered which led to the arena being appropriately evacuated.
Our safety systems are comprehensively tested and fully certified and responded appropriately, but for reasons we are yet to fully understand our house lights did not automatically turn on as programmed which meant our manual systems were activated, resulting in a short delay.
We can confirm that at no point were fire exits blocked, however due to the location of the activation, our stewards directed individuals away from some arena floor fire exits towards others while the source of the activation was investigated.
Customer security checks were carried out prior to the show and - as customers remained in very close proximity to the arena for a short amount of time, on private land monitored by CCTV and with additional visual checks put in place for re-entry - the decision was made for them to return to the arena so the show could resume. A full check of the arena and systems was carried out in the meantime with the event deemed safe to continue.
The safety of our customers is our number one priority; however we understand the customer experience was not in line with our high standards on this occasion and for that we are sorry. We wish to thank the band and the audience for their patience and cooperation.
We are proud that incidents of this nature remain rare over the past 15 years of hosting successful live events.