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Ticket Touting

How often have we heard that? I hope that we will see the voluntary code shortly. I started by talking about the corporate responsibility of the secondary market, and I feel passionately about the subject. There is much that the primary and secondary markets can do to ensure that the consumer is protected. I had a meeting with some of the organisers involved in the secondary market. It was good to hear about the ban on the sale of tickets for the Diana memorial concert and they were right to make that decision. However, one could still pick up a ticket originally priced at £50 if one was willing to pay £400 on the black market. I understand that 20 per cent. of the resale value of charity tickets goes back to the original charity if one purchases tickets off one of the recognised internet sites, which, again, is a way in which the secondary market can work responsibly. The debacle over the disabled seat at Wimbledon was interesting. I would put the onus on Wimbledon to ensure that any disabled seat is used by a disabled person—it would be completely wrong for that seat to be given to somebody else—but the price of the seat and who ends up with it is a separate debate. We have heard some original thinking and creative marketing ideas about how to prevent the wholesale purchase of tickets, and the Government might want to consider the scrutiny of IP addresses. On the sale of tickets, one of the most enjoyable times that I have had at Wimbledon was on the middle Sunday. Most of the week had been rained off, so there was an extra day of play, and people had to queue, which itself was an event—it was good fun. People say that the crowd that day was more loyal, British and energetic than on any other day. There are means other than the internet to sell tickets. I can confirm that I did not attend the Led Zeppelin concert, but I am pleased that some of my hon. Friends were able to get tickets. I was interested to learn that people had to provide credit card details to ensure that they were the tickets' original purchaser. I am concerned about the growth of the black market as an alternative if we try to legislate completely against the secondary market. That is exactly what would happen—it happens to a small degree at the moment—and the consumer really would lose out. That would also develop the growth of the numbers of fraudulent tickets. We welcome the report and I look forward to hearing the Minister's response. I have suggested that a further parliamentary debate might be in order to allow us to scrutinise the position and to gain more feedback from the various organisations that are involved in the primary and secondary markets. I am slightly concerned about the comments made by the Minister of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the right hon. Member for Barking (Margaret Hodge), in the Committee's hearing on 26 June 2007. My hon. Friend the Member for Shipley was a little shy in coming forward to talk about the exchanges. My hon. Friend again was talking about his favourite subject—handbags—and said during the hearing that a person who purchases a handbag—I am paraphrasing—can sell it on eBay for a profit in 10 minutes flat, and asked why tickets should be any different when, in both cases, a person bought something that they felt could be sold for a profit. The Minister replied:"““I have got a lot of sympathy with that view, and again I think one would have to justify the intervention either because there is a consumer detriment, which is why I have always looked to see what we can do around transparency””." She went on to say:"““I share a lot of your concern that if we start intervening, we would be distorting the market and actually then impeding consumer freedoms and it is information that matters, it is informed choice, it is getting that transparency that is vital””." However, it seems that if one transfers from one Department to another, everything that one has said in the past suddenly disappears, if I understood the Under-Secretary earlier. I am sure that what he said was tongue in cheek, but some clarification would be welcome. The Conservatives welcome the voluntary code of conduct and will be encouraging further research on the matter and better information sharing. When we get into government—I am sure that it will not be too long—will set up our own commission to look at the ethics of sport, which I am sure will include a look at the issue that we are debating. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Maldon and East Chelmsford and the rest of the Committee's members for their hard and diligent work, and I look forward to hearing the Under-Secretary's response.