Secondary ticketing sites accused of 'profiteering at the expense of teenage cancer sufferers'
Secondary ticketing site Viagogo has been accused of “profiteering at the expense of teenage cancer sufferers” listing tickets for an Ed Sheeran charity concert at up to £5,000 a ticket.
In aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, tickets for next month’s gig at the Royal Albert Hall have a face value of £49.50 to £110. However, on Viagogo tickets have been advertised for up to £5,000, with the most expensive ticket on the site at the moment listed at £1,500.
A statement released by the charity said the only people who should profit from the show are “young people with cancer” adding “ID will be rigorously checked and anyone with tickets purchased on the secondary market will not be admitted.”
However, reports on the Guardian suggest Viagogo has promised that “buyers of tickets for this event will be accompanied into the venue by the seller.”
Ticket reform campaigners Fan Fair Alliance have criticised the move claiming “not only are Viagogo encouraging touts to sell these tickets at vastly inflated prices, none of which goes back to the charity, they attempt to circumvent the terms and conditions by advertising that the buyer will be accompanied into the venue by the seller.”
“Leaving aside the moral repugnance of profiteering at the expense of teenage cancer sufferers, this appears a flagrant breach of consumer law and yet another reason why government intervention is so desperately needed.”
Earlier this month when tickets for Sheeran’s ‘Divide’ tour went on sale they appeared on resale sites within minutes, with Sheeran urging fans not to buy tickets through touts.