UK government to outlaw ticket touting in major resale crackdown

Ministers had considered permitting touts – and ordinary buyers – to resell tickets at up to 30 per cent above face value during a consultation that concluded earlier this year. But it is understood that any resale above the original purchase price will now be prohibited.

The decision, expected tomorrow, follows an open appeal from dozens of leading artists, including Radiohead, Dua Lipa and Coldplay, urging Prime Minister Keir Starmer to honour Labour’s manifesto pledge and stop “pernicious” touts.

Under the plan, which could feature in next year’s King’s Speech, sellers will be barred from charging more than they paid for a ticket. Resale platforms will still be able to levy service fees, though these will be capped to prevent them being inflated to compensate for lost profits. The level of this ceiling has not yet been settled.

The rules will also extend to social media sites, which platforms argue could become hubs for unregulated and potentially fraudulent sales if regulated exchanges are squeezed from the market.

Anyone reselling a ticket will be prohibited from offering more tickets than they could legitimately have bought under limits imposed by the original box office. A licensing regime for resale firms, considered during the government review, will not go ahead. Instead, platforms will face legal liability if sellers using their sites breach the law, which will be enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority.

High-profile acts including Ed Sheeran and the Pixies have long criticised touts for exploiting fans, while this year’s Oasis reunion tour drew in large numbers of professional “traders”. A Guardian investigation identified hundreds of tickets being sold by such traders, including three UK touts listing dozens of Oasis tickets worth a combined £26,000.

The UK’s live events market has also attracted overseas operators. One Cyprus-based firm advertised 1,596 Oasis tickets on StubHub alone.

Further examples of extreme pricing were detailed on Thursday by the consumer group Which?, which highlighted listings in Dubai, Singapore and the US. Oasis tickets for Wembley Stadium were advertised at £3,498.85 on StubHub and £4,442 on Viagogo. A Coldplay ticket for Wembley was listed at £814.52 on StubHub. The most egregious case was a ticket for the All Points East festival in London’s Victoria Park, headlined by Raye, priced at £114,666 on Viagogo.

Secondary ticketing companies have strongly resisted the plans, arguing they would fuel an illicit market and increase the risk of fraud.