Scrum off it! Rugby fans’ view woe
THIS was the view two rugby fans were faced with after paying £93 per ticket to see Wales play France.
Cardiff doctor Jane Petterson has spoken out after buying the tickets to see the Six Nations clash at the Principality Stadium on Saturday.
Jane, 52, and son Oliver, 19, paid £93 each for the tickets in the U2 seating block after deciding to treat themselves for Oliver’s birthday.
But while they knew their seats would be high up in the stadium, they said they were left unable to see a significant portion of the pitch.
Jane, from Roath, said: “My son got money from his family for his birthday and used his birthday money on it.
“We knew we would be high up, we have been up there before and that’s what you get. But we sat down and we couldn’t see anything.
“The people in front of us, they just left after the anthem and sat on the stairs. I didn’t think I would pay £93 for that. Sometimes we could hear the crowd react but you didn’t know if it was Wales or France, it was really grim.”
Jane said both her and her son had previewed the view from the block on the WRU website after noting the seat had a restricted view.
However, the “view from block” function on the website does not take into account the view from an individual seat.
Jane, who has been offered a £50 refund, said: “When you go to book you can click on your view. But they said that’s just the view from the block.
“It doesn’t look anything like that at all. It’s high up but [on the website] you can see the whole area.
“They have contacted me about an hour ago and said there was a technical problem for pricing strategies for those seven rows.”
She added: “When it first opened I was the stadium doctor so I have been everywhere - but never that bit of the stadium.
“Otherwise, I would not have spent that much money on it. My son was really upset, it was his birthday present. I don’t want anyone else to feel ripped off.”
A WRU spokeswoman said: “A small number of seats at Principality Stadium are sold with restricted views at full capacity events.
“These are the last seats we sell, they are clearly marked with a ‘restricted view’ check box at the point of purchase online and they normally carry a discount in excess of 50% of the price of the relevant seat category. Unfortunately, a technical error has led to this particular customer being charged full price for a restricted view ticket.
“We would like to formally apologise to the individual involved who has, of course, been fully reimbursed for the extra money paid.
“We are also taking steps to proactively contact anyone else, from the very small number of purchasers of ‘restricted view’ tickets, who may have been affected by this error.”