Sir Paul McCartney is playing at the Kings Dock on 1 June

A councillor in Liverpool is calling for a full inquiry into the sale of tickets for the Paul McCartney concert to council staff.

Councillor Richard Kemp, a member of the ruling Liberal Democrat group at the city council says he is "appalled" that council workers could buy tickets ahead of the public.

The tickets officially went on sale on Thursday, but 4,000 of the 5,000 tickets earmarked for a council-run hotline had been reserved by staff.

The council was allocated 5,000 tickets for the 40,000-seat show to ensure local people had a chance to get in to the show at Kings Dock.

Mr Kemp is tabling a council motion after the allocation was revealed by BBC Radio Merseyside.

He wants a special meeting of the Resources Select Committee and says he wants answers over the ticket allocation.

'No excuses'

It is understood an e-mail was sent to council staff offering them the opportunity to order tickets for themselves, friends and family, in advance.

Mr Kemp said: "I was absolutely appalled by what I heard.

"There can be no excuses and we've got to get to the bottom of it."

Phil Halsall, the city council's Director of Resources, has defended the council staff ticket allocation.

He said that the promoter had given tickets to a number of agencies and the council is one of those agencies.

"Sir Paul was determined that as many tickets as possible went to local people.

"What we decided to do with our allocation was to make them available to staff who are big fans of Sir Paul and live locally."