Brighton Pride: Organisers furious at ‘invalid’ Britney Spears ticket sales

Hundreds risk being denied entry to the event

Jacob Stolworthy
Saturday 04 August 2018 10:23 BST
Comments
Britney Spears set to headline Brighton Pride 2018

Organisers of Brighton Pride have criticised touts for “ripping off” Britney Spears fans with tickets that may not be valid.

Those who bought tickets on resale sites such as StubHub and Viagogo risk being denied entry due to the event's strict “no resale, no refund” policy.

Despite Pride's policy, a StubHub spokesperson said it “strongly believes people have a right to transfer tickets” and had some listed for up to £450 (via BBC) - more than 10 times the cost of tickets which were sold for up to £37.50.

In a full statement, a spokesperson for StubHub said:

“Even though only 0.7% of the total capacity of 44,000 tickets for this performance were sold on StubHub, we’re really disappointed on behalf of fans that those who originally bought tickets on general release were not made aware of a change to the terms and conditions (requiring photo ID) until after all the tickets had sold out.

“And whilst sellers set the prices, we have alerted buyers on our marketplace to the new restrictions, and every customer order is covered by our FanProtect Guarantee, meaning StubHub will provide comparable or better replacement tickets or at least a full refund should there be any issues.”

As of writing, more than 290 tickets had been sold leaving those people at risk of being turned away from the singer's Brighton show which sold out back in April.

“We have to disrupt the ticket touts,” Brighton and Hove Pride's managing director Paul Kemp said.

“Otherwise in the future, our community event, where the tickets are meant to go to locals, will be bought up by ticket companies and sold on at extortionate sites.

He branded the ticket sites as “fraudulent” adding: “They've been giving out the wrong information, they're undermining the industry, and they're ripping off customers.”

The Independent has reached out to Viagogo.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in