Hospital staff in Bristol have been left out of pocket and without a Christmas party to attend after the organisers of the bash vanished.

A group of employees at the Bristol Royal Infirmary and their partners have forked out £440 towards the cost of a party due to be taking place at Spike Island art gallery on December 11.

The party, called White Christmas, was organised by Jamesons Events and the 22 employees and partners each paid £20 deposits for the December 11 event.

But staff said they started to worry when they could not get in touch with Jamesons Events to order their meals for the £45-ticket party.

They say they have been unable to contact anyone from the company for months. Their worst fears were realised when Spike Island announced that the party had been cancelled. Staff at Spike Island, which is in Cumberland Road, Bristol, said they had also been unable to contact Jamesons Events and had lost thousands of pounds through the cancellation of the party.

Clinic sister Penny Ashmead, 54, from Brislington, is among the staff in the orthopaedic outpatients team who have lost out. She said she and her colleagues booked the event after they saw a flyer advertising it on a noticeboard at work in May. Deposits were paid to Jamesons Events, at the former Jamesons restaurant in Upper Maudlin Street, but Ms Ashmead said they never met any Jamesons Events staff.

She said: "Everybody has disappeared and I can't contact anybody. The evening was supposed to include carol singers and there was meant to be a meal as well – it looked like nothing we had ever seen before.

"We do not get given a Christmas do here, so we have to pay for our own and this is quite a lot of money to us." Charlotte Hetherington, spokeswoman for Spike Island, said: "We haven't been able to get in touch with Jamesons since July to organise the event and we've lost quite a lot of money ourselves.

"Our advice to people who have paid deposits is to contact the Citizens Advice Bureau."

Jamesons Events were unavailable for comment.

● Have you had to cancel your Christmas party in similar circumstances? Contact the newsdesk by email.