Florence and the Latrine - drummer gets locked in the loo before gig

Delectable vocals: Florence Welch (Michael Bowles/Rex Features)

Chart stars Florence and The Machine were almost late for a live radio gig - after their drummer got locked in the loo.

Chris Hayden became trapped shortly before a BBC Radio 2 performance at the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, south London.

He had to be rescued by staff, who removed the door to free him from the cubicle before the gig on presenter Jo Whiley's show on Thursday night.

The group's Florence Welch said her father even offered to step in to fill the drum stool, and she was concerned they had become the victim of a haunted toilet.

Welch said of her drummer: "I didn't know whether to say it on stage because I didn't want to embarrass him, but he got trapped in the loo.

"He was screaming. He got really freaked out. We could hear him - 'Let me out' - trying to bash the door down, and they had to take the door off its hinges, so my dad did offer to stand in. But he did escape."

Welch, whose hits include "Dog Days Are Over" and "You've Got The Love", went on: "I think it's haunted - and then all the taps started running boiling. All the taps in the bathroom started running hot water. I heard all the screaming and the banging and I was like 'whaaaat?'."

PA