CHARITIES and businesses at Scotland's only parenting exhibition aimed at families with young children remain out of pocket to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds after the Hampden event was cancelled in May.

And it is understood that detectives who are investigating a possible fraud have so far failed to trace the organiser Kevin Daly, the man at the centre of the controversy.

Police Scotland began a probe into the circumstances surrounding the collapse of The Good Parenting Show Scotland in May after complaints from exhibitors who had been unable to make contact with Mr Daly for more than a month.

The website for the parenting show, aimed at the parents of the 735,000 children aged up to 12 in Scotland, stated that it had been postponed to later in 2014, but no event was organised.

After the event was cancelled one advertiser was told when she called that Mr Daly, the show director had disappeared.The show's Twitter and Facebook account had vanished and mobile numbers given to would-be exhibitors became unobtainable.

His wife Valerie said in May he left their home near Ayr and three children three weeks ago after a domestic dispute and did not know what was happening about refunds, insisting she has nothing to do with the business. She has said she did not know what was happening about refunds, and insists she had nothing to do with the business.

Now exhibitors fear they will never get their money back.

One said they had been contacted by the police to say that they were unable to trace Mr Daly.

He said: "We haven't had any money back and the police can't find him. They don't know where he is in the world or planet.There's been nothing further from him at all, he just seems to have gone off the face of the earth."

More than 100 exhibitors and over 5000 parents were expected for the event which organisers described as "the only major exhibition in Scotland for parents of children aged bump to twelve years old."

But the cancellation, notified to Hampden ten days before the event was due to be stage, led to a clamour of questions that remaining unanswered.

Potential exhibitors were told in literature: "We know times are tough for nearly everyone and unlike other parenting events which have gone before, we make sure visitors fees and exhibitors fees are kept to a realistic minimum."

But attempts by some exhibitors to find out what was happening were met with no response.

Promotional material said that the team behind the show, Ayrshire-based Evolved Sales and Marketing Ltd, have "a combined experience of over 20 years in parenting events, advertising and marketing".

Companies House records show the company was formed in September, last year. They also show that Mr Daly, originally from Liverpool, and his wife are joint owners of the company.

Mr Daly, has a background in advertising sales and worked for the Glasgow-based disability lifestyle magazine Enable.

In his last email to exhibitors, Mr Daly said:"Now [it is] looking like we may not sadly be able to continue as the reputation [of the] show is looking damaged beyond repair.

"We will now take the proper course of action and look at the legal ramifications of issuing refunds were we can.

"This ... may lead us to cease trading as this has caused the future of the Good Parenting Show and other planned offerings such as a glossy Good Parenting Magazine to become unworkable. We are completely devastated by the thought of this."

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: "Inquiries are still ongoing. There is limited information about Mr Daly which perhaps might be making it more challenging than it could be."