THE man behind Romsey's vegan festival hoax vows that there are "going to be more fake festivals" in the near future.

A man who goes by the name of "Derek Dumper" on Facebook created an entirely fake festival aimed at the county's vegan residents last month, and after his self proclaimed "success", he plans to continue running hoax events.

When asked why he set up the festival, Mr Dumper said: "It's because I don't like vegans. I thought it would be funny and I find it extremely hilarious! I have fans out there that think the work I do is amazing and refer to me as a comedian so therefore I cannot let my fans down."

"There are going to be more vegan festivals mainly in the Hampshire area, mostly aimed at vegans. We currently have one ongoing so keep your eyes peeled. The Christmas vegan festival was very successful, and I plan on doing this for the forseeable future."

The Christmas vegan festival was advertised for a month and was scheduled to take place on December 22 at Romsey Town hall, despite them knowing nothing about the event.

As previously reported, a vegan group from Southampton attended the event in the hopes of running a stall, but were met with disappointment when it was all revealed to be fake.

Councillor Nick Adams-King, deputy leader of the Test Valley Borough Council has hit out at the event.

He said: "It's so sad that people feel able and justified in perpetuating this kind of scam. Deliberately misleading people because you dislike their values and way of life is pretty pathetic.

"I hope Facebook will take action against those involved, but I fear their track record is poor in doing so.

"I would always recommend people check out the provenance of any social media post that advertises events and meetings, as usually the venue's social media will mention the event as well as it being advertised by the promoter."