A plea by music stars, promoters and sports bodies to clamp down on the resale of tickets has been rejected by Government.
More than 80 signatories of an open letter to the Independent on Sunday, including Arctic Monkeys, the managers of One Direction, the Rugby Football Union and National Theatre, had demanded for a change in the law to “put fans first”.
But ministers blocked the proposed amendment to the Consumer Rights Bill, which would have forced secondary ticketing sites to provide information on the face value of the ticket, the seller’s identity and whether the resale breached terms and conditions.
The House of Lords had supported the change but the Government yesterday succeeded on getting it thrown out, claiming it would “overburden individual fans with red tape”.
The companies involved had claimed the amendment would be unenforceable and leave the public at greater risk of fraud.
But greater protection was recommended by an all-party report last year, and the Metropolitan Police warned the secondary market encourages “unscrupulous practices, a lack of transparency and fraud”.
