If they can protect football from touts,why not theatre?
A THEATRE boss wants entertainment venues to get protection from the Scottish Government against ticket touts.
Iain Gordon, general manager of Glasgow’s Pavilion Theatre, believes his sector should be treated just like football.
Shows at the Pavilion by comics Ben Elton and John Bishop were targeted by Scotland’s worst supertout, Andrew Newman, earlier this year.
The scalper, from West Lothian, was exposed in the Daily Record for combining computer trickery with multiple credit cards and “friends and family” identities to prevent ordinary fans from buying thousands of face-value tickets.
Newman broke the Pavilion’s strict ban on resale, which led to scores of tickets being cancelled as the theatre sought to protect fans from being ripped off.
The Scottish Parliament unanimously passed legislation to ban touting of tickets for the Euro 2020 football championships next year.
Last night Gordon said: “If they can protect football fans from touts, why can’t they
BY MARK McGIVERN Chief Reporter protect everybody? It’s a disgrace that the Scottish Government can set this law up for their own events but the rest of us in the entertainments sector have to fight these touts personally.
”There are a lot pf people making millions by touting tickets for events large and small and the Scottish Government has chosen to do nothing to stop this outrageous practice.
“It’s frustrating to find that some sneaky touts have managed to find ways of cheating the system to hoover up loads of tickets.
“By selling tickets for a huge premium, Newman could have made more from Ben Elton at the Pavilion than Ben Elton, his promoter and the Pavilion put together. Isn’t that pretty sick?
“When I read about the Euro championships getting legal protection from legislation at the Scottish Parliament, it makes me wonder why the hell we are left to put up with it.
“I’d like to challenge the
Scottish Government to come up with groundbreaking new legislation to protect theatres and pop venues from these parasites.
“Touts just leech from the industry and there is no way they can be justified.”
The Pavilion brought in special conditions for big shows and warned touts tickets would be cancelled and no refunds would be given if the conditions were broken – but the greedy sharks went ahead anyway.
Gordon was furious to learn that credit card companies gave