Moviegoers were forced to stand in lengthy refund queues at the Odeon cinema's Riverside branch in Norwich last night when several of the screens there stopped working.

Some of the screenings were just a few minutes underway when the malfunction occurred and dozens of customers were sent home.

Lois Palmer from Badersfield was one of many who were forced to leave the cinema early last night. She told us: 'I have young children so finding time to get away is really difficult. I'd planned to go and see 'Bridget Jones's Baby' for weeks with my two friends, one who is 36 weeks pregnant and the other with a three month old baby.

'The screen went black after 20 minutes, but you could still hear the audio. No member of staff made any announcements and we had to be informed by a member of the public who went to speak to them.

'After fifteen minutes in darkness the screen came back on, but after another 45 minutes the screen cut out again.'

When Lois went into the foyer there was a lengthy queue for a refund, as three other screens had been affected by the technical issues.

They were offered the choice of a full refund or a guest pass for another film at a different time.

'It's not good enough to choose between the two, we should have got both as we couldn't watch the end of the film that night,' Louis continued.

When Lois and other customers asked for both a refund and a guest pass she was met by a rude response from one employee.

'He said to us, 'What makes you ladies think you should be treated differently to everyone else?'

'A technical fault cannot be helped but the cinema was really understaffed and I really wasn't impressed with their attitude.

'I felt really disappointed as it had taken weeks to find a convenient time with young children at home,' she finished.

The screens are now up and running as normal.

An ODEON spokesperson said: 'We can confirm that a small number of our screens at ODEON Norwich encountered a temporary fault on Wednesday evening – however they are back up and running as usual today, showing the very latest entertainment for our guests. We have apologised to anyone affected by the issue, and offered free passes to return to the cinema. We look forward to welcoming them back again soon!'