The hugely popular comic, who is a former pupil of St Columba’s High, is going back to school in Clydebank on December 18 where he will conduct a talk about his recently released autobiography; “We Need to Talk About...Kevin Bridges”.

When the tickets priced at just £5 each went on sale to the public at both Dumbarton and Clydebank libraries the vast majority of those who stood waiting in line were left not only empty-handed, but angry and frustrated.

The council’s climb down, in which a spokesperson claimed “lessons will be learned for future events”, came after dozens of people waited outside Dumbarton Library last Tuesday morning to buy tickets for the event featuring the comedian at St Peter the Apostle High.

Many were left seething after they were unable to buy tickets despite being at the front of the queue.

A number took to the council’s Facebook page to vent their fury which lead to council officials claiming only 40 to 50 tickets were available at each library outlet. This lead to even more acrimony as the numbers just didn’t seem to add up.

Allison Donnelly said: “My dad just went down to get three tickets — fourth in the queue in Dumbarton and they were sold out.” Eleanor Buchanan added: “What a joke. Only 14 tickets at Clydebank library this morning. Queue of people standing freezing for over an hour!” A further update on the ticket situation was made on the council’s Facebook page late on Wednesday afternoon, revealing another 60 tickets were to be released to those on a “reserve list”.

Part of it read: “The additional tickets will be offered to the names on the reserve list taken at Dumbarton and Clydebank libraries.” However, that wasn’t enough to pacify some who had tried in vain to get their hands on the gold-dust tickets.

Eileen Darroch fumed: “We were fifth in the queue at Dumbarton library and somehow managed to miss out on tickets. No-one mentioned a reserve list. This is a complete shambles and I can’t help but smell a rat.” Nicola Stanley added: “Not told of reserve list either at Dumbarton library. Shambles!” Those sentiments were also echoed by Marion Major who said: “We were not told of a reserve list at Dumbarton either, although in the queue just after 9am.” A spokesperson for West Dunbartonshire Council said: “The Council would like to apologise for the way in which tickets were sold. Confusion amongst staff over what tickets were available for sale and what were reserved meant an incorrectly low number of tickets were released to the public on Tuesday morning.

“Some people were unaware of the reserve lists and headed home without leaving their name. To solve this situation council employees who had purchased tickets for the event have offered to return them so they can be re-allocated to as many of those residents as possible.

“We know that this will not make up for the disappointment caused by this situation but we hope that residents will see we have done everything possible to put things right. Lessons will be learned for future events of this kind.” All proceeds from the event will go to St Margaret’s of Scotland Hospice.