Proud to echo Record readers’ views about the parasites milking genuine music fans
NOBODY likes a ticket tout.
Certainly, nobody present at the cross-party culture, media and sport committee’s hearing into ticket abuse said a single word in favour of the parasites milking real fans.
Or the parasitical websites that get rich by accommodating the touts as they heap misery on those desperate to see their heroes.
I was a witness at the Commons inquiry, where I was proud to echo the views of Record readers who detest the growing plague of faceless online touts.
The unusual inclusion of a journalist at a select committee hearing gave the Record a chance to represent the level of disgust felt at touts like geeky Andrew Newman, from Linlithgow, West Lothian, whose team of keyboard cheats are making him millions by snapping up thousands of tickets ahead of real fans then hiking up the price.
Committee chairman Damian Collins referred to the secondary ticketing set-up as a scandal. The panel plainly agreed.
Viagogo, arguably the nastiest of the four main secondary sales platforms, didn’t bother to show up.
They may have felt there was no point trying to defend the indefensible but their contempt could steel the resolve of legislators to take decisive action against them and Stubhub, GetMeIn! and Seatwave. Since last May, the Record has exposed super-touts such as Canadian Julien Lavallee and football coach Thomas Craig.
We exposed the hypocrisy of global giants Live Nation, who manage bands, stage festivals, sell tickets via Ticketmaster then reap big rewards via Seatwave and GetMeIn!
We have also told how top promoters in Scotland believe the secondary market should be abolished.
Each story we published was yesterday distributed to the committee, a crossparty panel of MPs who have shown before they are prepared to get down to real business despite political differences.
The hearing gave the Record the chance to ram home the message that a legal cap on ticket resale prices – perhaps of 10 per cent – is the most obvious way to kill the “broken” secondary ticket market.
Touts are already under attack by an imminent legal ban on botnet computer software that harvests tickets.
And renewed efforts to enforce the toothless Consumer Rights Act will undoubtedly make a dent in the profits of touts
With the current ticket abuse inquiry looming large, the touts are recoiling in anticipation of a kick where it hurts.
I hope they get what’s coming.
It’s one of the most manipulative websites I have ever seen NIGEL HUDDLESTON