Westlife have apologised on stage after hundreds of fans were forced to stand or go home at their Glasgow gig.

The boyband were playing the first of three sold-out dates in the city of their 'Twenty Tour' when disaster struck the venue's seating arrangements.

The Evening Times understands that a delay in the arrival of production elements meant that the ground floor seating had to be changed - leaving hundreds of fans faced with the decision of either standing or getting their money back.

Read more: Hundreds affected by major changes to Westlife seating plan

When the band eventually appeared on stage, they apologised on behalf of themselves and the crew for the fiasco.

They blamed the chaos on issues with shipping parts of the production from Belfast, and extended a thank you to both their own crew and Scottish crews for lending a hand in setting up the stage.

Nicky Byrne said: "The options were, at 7 o'clock tonight, no show or give them the best show that we could give them, which would mean standing on the floor for you guys.

"Rather than send you all home and postpone for another night we thought we’d just go out and give them a great show. We hope you don’t mind.

"So thank you for being so understanding – we really appreciate that."

We told you earlier how fans - including elderly and disabled - were hit with the choice of standing for several hours or missing out on the band's first Glasgow show.

Read more: Fan fury at seating plan fiasco at Westlife Glasgow SSE Hydro gig

Some had paid over £1,000 to gain entry to the show, only to leave empty-handed.

A spokesperson for The SSE Hydro told The Evening Times: “The seating layout for tonight’s Westlife show was changed due to unexpected transport delays.

"For ticketholders who did not wish to or were unable to stand, full refunds are available from the original point of purchase.

"We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”