Arts promoters and venue managers have united behind the proposal for an inquiry into the failure of Fringe ticketing system, according to Jon Morgan, the director of the Edinburgh Fringe.

Mr Morgan was speaking after a hastily convened meeting between Fringe Society board members and venue managers, after questions had been raised by some promoters about “the competence of the Fringe Society's board” and the organisation's alleged failure “to plan and implement” the new e-booking system.

“What came out of the meeting was a desire to make sure the festival flourishes, an overwhelming vote in favour of the review process we have established,” Mr Morgan said.

No budget has been decided for the review, nor has a timetable been agreed, though the Fringe Society was satisfied it had sufficient reserves to cover its costs. Mr Morgan predicted that the procedure would be “thorough and quick”.

The parameters of the report will be drawn up by Tim Hawkins, who has taken up a post as temporary general manager of the Fringe, but it will be compiled by independent consultants.

“It is of sufficient importance for us to ensure that the answers we give are seen to be objective, and not seen as the Fringe Society protecting itself. If there is any fault within the society, we don't want to hide that in any way, we want that to be transparent,” said Mr Morgan, who added that he had not faced any questions over his own future as director of the Fringe.

“This is not about whitewashing anything, but other factors have to be taken into account,” he said. “Hotel bookings are down this year, there are fewer tourist from the States. We are only a third of the way through the festival and you can't begin to measure any potential impact until after the festival.

“There are many factors, apart from the box office, which affect how a show may or may not do, and

it would be unrealistic to quantify these now.”

The review is to take place in two stages. The first phase will cover the workings of the box office and make recommendations that could be implemented in 2009, while the second phase will place the Fringe in a wider context, and is likely to analyse issues of structure, funding and personnel Mr Morgan added.

In this context it is likely to cover some of the territory included in the Thunder Hooves report, which in 2006 studied potential threats to all the Edinburgh festivals. The new report will be specific to the needs of the Fringe, the biggest, most unwieldy and diverse component of the city's August arts offerings, and would give food for thought before the 50th anniversary of the Fringe Society, which falls next year.

Mr Morgan said that the question of compensation had not been raised by venue managers at yesterday's meeting. He defined two problems with the Pivotal Integration ticketing system, which was commissioned and used for the first time this year.

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