The co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on ticket abuse has called on the government to crack down on ticket touts after alleging that as many as 50 were operating outside Wembley Stadium during a recent high-profile football match.
MP Sharon Hodgson wrote to Culture Secretary Karen Bradley after conducting a fact-finding mission at the pre-season friendly match between Liverpool and Barcelona at the national football stadium earlier this month.
Hodgson said touts were openly operating outside Wembley without any attempt by the authorities to intervene. She alleged that one Barcelona fan paid £170 (€196/$222) for a ticket with a face value of just £26.
“There is not another national stadium within Europe where you see this taking place, which in turn damages UK plc,” she said.
Hodgson urged Bradley to implement the recommendations of the Waterson Review into the secondary ticketing sector, which include the introduction of national trading standards officers.
Hodgson wrote: “Following our fact-finding mission to Wembley, we uncovered the scope and scale of ticket touts operating on the ground and fleecing fans desperate to get tickets to a hotly anticipated football match at our national stadium. The fact-finding clearly reaffirmed the need for action to be taken by the government.”
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