Amy Winehouse faces a bill for £500,000 and prohibitive insurance costs on future bookings after cancelling last night’s concert and all remaining tour dates on doctor’s orders.

Thousands of fans with tickets to see the 24-year-old diva at venues in England, Wales and Ireland were left disappointed by last night’s decision, but her mother spoke of her relief.

“Amy’s got to take the opportunity of getting herself fitter and stronger,” Janis Winehouse said. “She thinks she’s strong but she isn’t. I hope she uses the chance to fully recover. I hope she will take it easy for a while and then get back to writing new material. She has got to get herself clean. It is a matter of her personal survival.”

Fans on their way to last night’s gig at the Bournemouth International Centre were angry at the late-notice cancellation but not surprised.

Jill Thompson, a teacher from Poole, said: “I’m so disappointed. I’ve been looking forward to this concert for weeks. I’m worried about her because she is such a talent at such a young age. She’s a genius really. It’s not enough notice, though, to cancel a concert – only two hours, which wasn’t really adequate because I have already made arrangements.”

Another fan, from Dorchester, who did not wish to be named, said: “The tickets had all sold out really quickly so I bought ours on eBay for £70 each and I doubt I can get a refund. It’s not really a surprise that she has cancelled but I have driven an hour and a half to get here and I don’t think they gave us enough notice.”

Winehouse’s career has soared since her second album, Back to Black, won a Brit award this year. It has sold 3.3 million copies worldwide and is the biggest-selling album of the year in Britain. However, her behaviour has become increasingly erratic and dogged by rumours of drug misuse and marital strife.

She said yesterday that she was unable to perform without her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who is in police custody charged with attempting to pervert justice. “I can’t give it my all on stage without my Blake,” she said in a statement. “I’m so sorry but I don’t want to do the shows half-heartedly. I love singing. My husband is everything to me and without him it’s just not the same.”

The 17-date tour had sold out and was expected to gross £1,125,000, but the beehived diva has completed only half of it and was pilloried for a shambolic display at the opening night of the tour in Birmingham. She staggered about the stage, slurred her words and called the audience “mugs”. When sections of the crowd booed, she responded: “To all those booing, just wait till my husband gets out of incarceration. And I mean that.”

Island Records confirmed that gigs in Cardiff, Manchester, London, Belfast and Dublin had been called off.

A statement said: “Amy Winehouse has cancelled all remaining live and promotional appearances for the remainder of the year on the instruction of her doctor. The rigours involved in touring and the intense emotional strain that Amy has been under in recent weeks have taken their toll. Amy has been ordered to take complete rest and deal with her health issues. Refunds will be issued from the point of purchase.”

Winehouse cancelled the US leg of her tour in September and wrote off a string of dates in Europe after reports that she was being treated for drug addiction. Last month she was fined after being found with cannabis in a hotel in Bergen, Norway.

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