The UK Government has today launched a long-awaited public consultation in order to introduce “new measures to prevent consumers being fleeced by ticket touts as part of [the] Plan for Change.”
Specifically, these will include:
- Introducing a cap on the price of ticket resales – with the consultation seeking views on a range from the original price to up to a 30 per cent uplift, and limiting the number of tickets resellers can list to the maximum they are allowed to purchase on the primary market. These measures would prevent organised touts reselling a large number of tickets at vastly inflated prices and disincentivise industrial scale touting.
- Increasing the accountability of ticket resale websites and apps – creating new legal obligations so that they are held responsible by Trading Standards and the Competition and Market Authority for the accuracy of information they provide to fans.
- Strengthening consumer enforcement – review of existing legislation to bring it up to date, including stronger fines and a new licensing regime for re-sale platforms to increase enforcement of protections for consumers. Trading Standards can already issue fines of up to £5,000 for ticketing rule breaches. The consultation will look into whether this cap should be increased.
Responding to the news, Adam Webb, Campaign Manager, FanFair Alliance, said:
“These suggested measures are potentially game-changing. Other countries, notably Ireland, have demonstrated how legislation to prevent the resale of tickets for profit can massively curb the illegal and anti-consumer practices of online ticket touts and offshore resale platforms. The UK simply needs to follow their example.”
In September 2023, FanFair published three pro-consumer measures to end mass-scale ticket touting.
These have been widely endorsed throughout the UK music business.