Plan to halt online ticket touting ‘spivs’ could bolster black market – MP
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New plans to crack down on online ticket touting “spivs” could push fans into a black market, a shadow minister has warned. Saqib Bhatti said that as an Oasis fan “we know that we didn’t have the necessary information upfront” when tickets went on sale for the band’s ’25 Tour.
But he warned proposed ticket resale price caps – limiting resale prices to a maximum 30% of the original retail price – could see “more money flowing into the pockets of ticket touts”. Creative industries minister Sir Chris Bryant quoted lyrics from Charli xcx’s single 360, when he told the Commons high resale prices for her tour were enough to “shock you like defibrillators”.
He said he had seen tickets originally priced at £54 go for as much as £400. Sir Chris added that in addition to a new uplift cap on resale tickets – in the region between 0% and 30% – which the Government is consulting on, it will also look at dynamic or surge pricing.
A system of licences for resale platforms might also feature among the final plans. “It’s not a consultation on whether to act, it’s a consultation on precisely how we should act,” the minister said. Mr Bhatti, a Conservative shadow culture minister, told MPs: “We will consider carefully any proposals that could strengthen, improve or simplify the market for fans, but I also warn him, we will oppose regulation when it is just introduced for the sake of being new regulation.
