viagogo boss set to finally face the music
US chief to fly in for grilling from MPs
TICKETS rip-off merchants Viagogo are finally set to be grilled by MPs.
The pariah secondary selling site refused to show up at a Parliamentary select committee evidence session last year.
But Cris Miller, their head of business development, has been listed as a witness for Wednesday’s sitting of the digital, culture, media and sport select committee.
He is expected to fly in from the States.
MPs will also grill executives from Ticketmaster and StubHub about the scandal of secondary ticketing sites. Miller’s LinkedIn profile boasts that he created the Viagogo department responsible for “supply” identification and servicing the “seller” – ie touts.
It was revealed last week that Viagogo appear to be moving key UK operations from London to the US, amid a pledge by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to take court action if they continue to break consumer laws.
The CMA have issued repeated warnings but taken zero action against tout sites, despite millions of criminal offences potentially having been committed.
Ticketmaster’s managing director Andrew Parsons will be hoping for an easier ride than his last appearance before the MPs after the firm’s announcement that their tout sites GetMeIn! and Seatwave will close in October.
The closure of the sites was a massive victory for the Record’s Stub Out the Touts Campaign.
FanFair’s Adam Webb and Galbraith will also give evidence on Wednesday.