Industry slams Labour government plans for ticket reform
Leading industry voices have slammed government plans to change the secondary ticketing market in sport, describing proposals as “draconian”.
The government on Friday announced plans to tackle touts and potentially further regulate the secondary market following instances of extreme dynamic pricing relating to the sale of Oasis tickets.
Measures could include a cap and a review of dynamic pricing.
But industry associations have hit back at Labour’s plans with Matthew Sinclair of the Computer and Communications Industry Association insisting the “secondary market has a vital role in giving fans a means to attend events they might have missed when tickets went on sale”.
The senior director added: “Draconian regulation, targeting only the secondary market, will only mean more tickets changing hands in informal settings without the same protections that exist in proper marketplaces.
“Ministers should address legitimate concerns with a holistic approach that encourages the original sellers of tickets, secondary marketplaces and others involved to all do their bit to make buying and selling tickets an even fairer and safer experience.”
A spokesperson for secondary firm Viagogo said: “We will continue to engage constructively with the Government and look forward to responding in full to the consultation and the call for evidence on improving consumer protections in the ticketing markets.”
The Competition and Market Authority estimated the value of tickets sold in 2019 through secondary platforms to be about £350m across 1.9m tickets, accounting for five-to-six per cent of the number of purchases sold that year.
Professor Rob Wilson suggested he supports accusations of draconianism, adding that “all it tends to do is sell resale underground”.
“There are two issues with that,” he added. “One is that you’ve got no consumer protection and two is that the ticket itself might not work.
“What we have seen increasingly over the last couple of years is huge amounts of fraud and lots of consumer cost.