Comedian Peter Kay has called off his highly anticipated live tour that was due to start next spring.

The Car Share star announced last month that he would be going on the road for the first time in eight years, and tickets for the 87-date tour sold out in record time due to phenomenal demand.

But Peter has now announced that he was pulling the plug on his entire work schedule, including his tour, due to 'unforeseen family circumstances' – meaning his scheduled DJ set at next year's Car Fest at Bolesworth in July will not be going ahead.

In a statement on Twitter he said: "Due to unforeseen family circumstances, I deeply regret I am having to cancel all of my upcoming work projects.

"This unfortunately includes my upcoming stand-up tour, Dance For Life shows and any outstanding live work commitments.

‘My sincerest apologies. This decision has not been taken lightly and I’m sure you’ll understand my family must always come first.

"I’ve always endeavoured to project my family’s privacy from the media. I hope that the media and the public will continue to respect our privacy at this time. ‘Once again, I’m very sorry."

Our sister site The Mirror has issued advice on how fans can get their money back:

By law, the ticket seller is responsible for giving you a refund for tickets to a cancelled event.

According to consumer website Which? if an event you booked is cancelled, rescheduled or has changed location, you are entitled to a refund of at least the face value of the ticket. If you paid a discounted rate - you'll get the amount you paid back instead.

The face value is the cost of the ticket as printed on it, without extras on top such as postage, administration and booking fees.

This is a condition of membership of the industry's self-regulatory body, the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR), that ticket sellers refund the ticket's face value price when an event is cancelled.

If you have difficulty getting a refund for the event, you can complain to the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR) if your ticket seller is a member.

What about any extra charges?

This part - which includes booking and delivery fees - is at the discretion of the ticket retailer - which is why it's so important to check the terms and conditions before you buy anything online.

Some ticket sellers or agents refund booking fees but not the postage fee as they argue that the transaction has taken place.

Firms like Ticketmaster will refund postage charges if the tickets have not yet been delivered.

However, Gigantic, Seetickets and Stargreen, won't give that money back - which means you could be left out of pocket.

If you bought from a secondary ticket seller

If you bought from a secondary ticket seller you may not have the same chance of getting a refund, explains Citizens Advice.

The event organiser doesn't have to honour these tickets and won’t refund if you paid a hugely inflated price for the tickets.

If the tickets are yet to show up, you can dispute this with the firm and try to claim your money back.

Alternatively, make a complaint to the website that sold you the tickets and ask to cancel the tickets and request a refund.

If you bought your tickets on an auction website such as eBay, you should be protected by its Buyer Protection Guarantee.

The firm is refusing to give me a refund

If you're having trouble with a ticket seller you may be able to get a refund through your credit or debit card provider.

If you paid by credit card - even just part of your purchase - you may be protected under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act . That's because on all purchases between £100 and £30,000 made by credit card, the issuer is equally liable for the item if it doesn't show up/arrives faulty. This applies even if just part of the ticket was bought by credit card.

If you paid via PayPal and your item doesn’t arrive, or doesn’t match the seller’s description, you are protected by its Buyer Protection guarantee . This will reimburse you for the full amount of the item plus postage and packaging costs.

If you've used a debit card or paid for an item worth less than £100 on a credit card, your bank may be able to reverse the transaction under a process called Chargeback. Under this scheme, you can ask the bank to get back your money if the goods you've ordered haven't turned up. The bank will usually do this - but you must do a chargeback within 120 days of becoming aware of a problem, up to a maximum 540 days after a purchase.