The BBC was accused today of sending more than 400 staff on a "junket" to the Glastonbury music festival.

The number included presenters, technicians, contractors and senior executives, the BBC said.

But a spokesman for the corporation defended the staffing levels at the festival.

"Glastonbury is a major British cultural event and the BBC has extensive coverage across TV, radio and online," he said.

"The BBC is the UK's largest musical patron and has a particular role in broadcasting musical performances, often live, and commissioning new music and showcasing new performers.

"Glastonbury is widely regarded as the UK's most significant popular music event."

A newspaper report suggested the cost to the BBC of covering the event was £1.5 million - but the spokesman refused to comment on the figure.

The broadcasts from the festival included Gabby Logan's show on BBC Radio 5 Live - a station known for its focus on news and sport rather than music.

Last week, figures revealed that BBC executives claimed more than £350,000 in expenses in the last five years.

The salaries of the BBC's 50 top-earning managers were disclosed - and showed 27 were paid more than Prime Minister Gordon Brown's £195,000 salary.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "I think the number of staff sent to Glastonbury does smack of it being more of a junket for BBC staff and presenters rather than a serious exercise. There's no way they would need 400 people to record and broadcast an event like Glastonbury.

"I'm afraid we've seen it in the past. At the Olympics there were more BBC staff than British athletes.

"We are seeing a trend here of BBC over-manning. When people combine that with the revelations of expenses last week, it shows the BBC is ready for some cuts."

The BBC said more than 100 hours of television coverage were produced across a variety of channels, with more than 60 hours of radio output, plus a website featuring 600 pages and 57 hours of video.

The spokesman said the corporation also ran the BBC Introducing stage, which showcases new young artists at the event.

He said the number of staff included seven TV presenters, 139 TV technical staff, 20 radio presenters, 16 editorial staff from Radio 1, five from Radio 5 Live and 17 from 6 Music.

There were also 30 radio technical staff, four employees from the BBC Introducing stage and 18 from BBC Interactive.

He added that 130 short-term contractors were also employed - the majority responsible for "technical services".

The spokesman said "all but a handful" of top executives were asked to buy tickets for themselves and guests.