Ticket touts, inflated prices & misleading information. Alec Samuels revisits the problematic area of resold tickets
In brief
- In October 2018 the author provided a full review of resold tickets in ‘Secondary ticketing’, 168 NLJ 7812, p15 .Nearly two years on, he re-addresses the issue.
Ticket touts may be seen as either a social menace, damaging to society, or as a useful institution in a free society. Most promoters of public events strongly dislike the ticket touts and do all they can to forestall their activities.
Identifying and dealing with the touts and the purchasers of the original tickets is very difficult. The touts are elusive, often work in organised ‘gangs’, often online, will not inform on each other or anybody, and will try to evade service. Stopping the touts, bringing their activities to an end, can be particularly challenging.
McKay v All England Tennis Club [2020] EWCA Civ 695 paras [66-115], [2020] All ER (D) 51 (Jun) provides the classic example of what to do and
