Four men with shaven heads claim they were moved from the front row of a Girls Aloud concert just for looking a bit menacing.

Their chance to get a close-up view of the sexy pop stars was ruined when door staff made them move to balcony seats at a packed Brighton Centre on Thursday night.

The men, who each paid £26.75, were just beginning to "let loose" during support act Frank when door staff stepped in and asked them to move, accusing them of being drunk.

The men admit one of their party stood up and "waved his hands a bit" but were bemused why this was not allowed at a concert.

The friends suspect they were moved for no other reason than they had skinheads and looked intimidating.

They admit to drinking a few beers in a pub beforehand but said they were not even close to being drunk.

One of the friends, Gary Wates, 26, of Kingsland Road, Worthing, said: "If we were drunk we wouldn't have got past the first set of doormen."

"We were told Frank weren't coming back on stage and Girls Aloud wouldn't come on stage at all unless we moved."

Mr Wates added there was no way he could have caused trouble as he was suffering from four slipped discs in his back after falling 25ft off a ladder in February while window cleaning.

He left the venue with another member of the group, disabled undertaker Rob Smith, 34, of Highdown Avenue, Worthing, rather than relocating.

The other two initially went to the balcony but their view was so bad they also left.

Steve West, 32, of Russell Close, Worthing, said: "This is discrimination. We are told we look intimidating but we are nice people. If you go to a place drunk, you get kicked out. Why move us?"

The fourth member of the group, who admitted standing up and waving his hands, asked not to be named.

Rebecca Crow, operations manager at the Brighton Centre, said people complained the men had been drinking and were jumping around.

She said: "We were concerned their behaviour would escalate. We found them alternative seats so they wouldn't get on anyone's nerves and still enjoy the show but they weren't happy."

A spokeswoman for Girls Aloud's record label Polydor said: "The security team was not employed by Girls Aloud. I doubt the girls are aware of the incident.

"It's a security matter."