Bid to ban tickets rip-off on disabled
TELLY star Donna Air has admitted her latest challenge for Dancing On Ice is “terrifying” – but that she is enjoying it hugely.
The presenter and singer said she took advice from a lot of female friends on whether or not to do the ITV show.
And she revealed: “All the women in my life said, ‘Life is about experiences and the more you can do the better’.
“Unless you can try things you’ll never know. And what’s the worst that can happen? You fall over.”
Donna, 38, added that the Duchess of Cambridge’s brother James Middleton, with whom she has been in an on-off relationship since 2013, had backed her decision to take part. In DISABLED music fans have been ripped off by nearly 40 ticket agencies and concert halls that force them to make premium-rate calls to get into gigs.
Disability rights campaigners and telecom experts last night demanded a ban on the lines after research for the Sunday People revealed the scale of the scandal.
The Fair Telecoms Campaign found 38 venues, ticket agencies and promoters have separate num- bers for the disabled – charging up to 62p a minute from a mobile.
The results come after we last week told how Peter Kay fans had huge bills after being kept on hold while using 084 and 087 numbers to book wheelchair-access spots.
One fan of the comic had a £39 phone bill to get an access ticket at Newcastle’s Metro Radio Arena. Other culprits using costly accessible bookings lines are Birmingham Hippodrome, Liverpool’s Echo Arena, Leeds First Direct Arena and The TicketSeller agency.
Often disabled fans are excluded from booking online. Instead they must ring numbers with a “service” charge of up to 7p a minute and an “access” fee of up to 55p a minute depending on providers.
The FTC said fans have to use the lines to discuss accessibility needs, adding: “This is exploitative and discrimination.” Former Paralympics swimming champion Lord Holmes said the charges were “not acceptable”. Muscular Dystrophy UK said: “We want a level playing field where disabled people do not have to call separate numbers.”
SMG Europe, which runs the Newcastle and Leeds Arenas, says it may change the ticket system and is “looking to secure alternative numbers which would reduce costs”.
The Hippodrome, Echo Arena and TicketSeller did not respond to requests for comment.