Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Addington (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 5 July 2007.

Ticket Touts

Question: My Lords, if we allow this to carry on, we effectively are taking money out of the economic sector because no one receives any extra profit. We would exclude the fans at whom the sale of tickets has been aimed. With online facilities and much better opportunities to buy and sell tickets, what function is preserved by allowing people to take an extra profit and to rip the public off in this way?

Answer: My Lords, it is easier to say that we should produce restrictions than to make them legally enforceable. The noble Lord will know that we potentially will have very great difficulty in enforcing any law under those terms, which is why, even under the existing position with regard to ticket touts and the resale of football tickets, the authorities do not always think that it is right to use the force of the law. The noble Lord is right that there is a problem with online reselling. That is why we have been involved in consultation with the industry to seek to improve practices where resale occurs online; for example, making sure that the original value of the ticket is stated so that the person who is proposing to purchase a ticket knows the accurate value rather than any additional value that someone else might add to it.

Secondary information