Former chart toppers UB40 have been declared bankrupt, despite selling more than 70 million records and having 50 hits in their 33-year career.

After a bitter split over the band's finances following the collapse of their management company, four of its members - Brian Travers, Jimmy Brown, Terence Oswald and Norman Hassan - have been declared insolvent at Birmingham County Court.

District Judge Richard Musgrave has allowed liquidators to chase debts and royalty payments and warned the reggae band they may have to pay costs, believed to be around £57,000.

It comes as the band played a gig to fans at the pub where they first performed together in 1978, the Hare and Hounds in Birmingham.

Former frontman Ali Campbell, a founding member of the group, acrimoniously left in 2008 due to ongoing fights over money.

His spokesman said this week's ruling showed he was right to quit the band.

She remarked: "It is ironic that the very week they celebrate their first gig they have been declared bankrupt, after administration began in 2006, vindicating both Ali and Mickey Virtue's decision to leave UB40."