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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Fans warned tickets being touted for thousands will be 'automatically void'

Tickets are currently on sale on StubHub for up to £1,000 with many fans left disappointed

Jess Denham
Friday 05 August 2016 08:26 BST
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child officially opened last month and is running until December next year
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child officially opened last month and is running until December next year

Harry Potter fans have been warned that tickets for Cursed Child being sold for up to £1,000 on resale sites will be “automatically void”.

Thousands of people spent yesterday waiting in an online queue for tickets as 250,000 more went on sale for performances running until December next year.

But while fans were sharing screengrabs of messages appearing on their screens telling them there were over 150,000 left in line, touts had already grabbed tickets and put them up for sale on the likes of eBay and StubHub. Tickets for JK Rowling’s critically acclaimed two-part play are currently on sale on eBay for more than £600, with StubHub sellers hoping to fetch up to £1,000 for a single ticket.

The play’s spokesman has reminded fans buying tickets from touts that organisers “reserve the right to refuse admission”.

“Tickets purchased through either of our official ticketing platforms must not be sold or advertised for sale on the internet, in newspapers or elsewhere,” he said.

“Any ticket advertised for sale in this way will be automatically void. Please note that we reserve the right to refuse admission to customers with tickets purchased on re-sale websites.”

Fans who were able to get hold of tickets from official sellers Nimax and ATG paid significantly less, with seats starting at £15. Three hundred tickets for every performance are priced at £20 or less for each part, while those still hoping to secure tickets can try their luck in the Friday Forty lottery, which offers a weekly chance to ballot for cheap seats.

Fans have been voicing their anger at touts on Twitter, with Marlies van Eunen writing: “Wizarding world unite and let us all rise against the evil and foul souls selling their Cursed Child tickets on ebay. Wands out.”

Speaking on the red carpet for the production’s gala opening on Saturday, author Rowling said she wanted to make the theatre accessible to people from all backgrounds.“What we would really like most of all is to bring people in who have never been to the theatre before,” she told reporters. “I would be so proud to think that kids from my kind of background, who didn't come from particularly theatre-going families, learn what theatre is about through this show. That would be an incredible thing.”

Additional reporting by Press Association

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