Here we viagogo again
£1500 price tag on tickets.. despite SRU’s crackdown
ROGUE ticket agency Viagogo are defying rugby bosses’ efforts to protect fans – by selling Calcutta Cup tickets for £1500 each.
The secondary sales site are also blatantly breaking the Consumer Rights Act as they list tickets for sale without seat numbers – making it impossible for Scottish Rugby Union bosses to cancel the tickets.
Viagogo were dumped last year as official sponsors of the SRU after the Record revealed how the link-up led to fans being exploited.
And in the wake of a fan backlash, the organisation warned the big four tout platforms – Viagogo, Get Me In!, Stubhub and Seatwave – that tickets resold for a profit would be cancelled.
That would mean fans who bought rip-off tickets would be denied entry to the Murrayfield clash with England on February 24.
Despite the drive resulting in many tickets being voided, Viagogo yesterday had more than 300 tickets for sale.
Some were listed for £1143, with “VAT and booking fee” of £390 per ticket taking the total cost to £1560.
The add-ons of £390 dwarf the £112 price of platinum tickets for the match – the highest face value sold by the SRU.
The tickets can’t be cancelled because Viagogo only list the block and row number.
They also fail to tell buyers of the face value of tickets – another clear breach of the Consumer Rights Act, which should incur fines of £5000 per offence.
Adam Webb, spokesman for the Fanfair Alliance, who campaign against ticket abuse, said: “Viagogo have run out of excuses. Government have published very clear guidance detailing the legal responsibilities of secondary ticketing companies, and yet we still struggle to find listings on their site that are not in breach of the Consumer Rights Act.
“For any event with allocated seating, such as Six Nations matches, details of the seat numbers must be provided. It’s very simple.”