Wimbledon tennis officials are taking legal action against a number of unauthorised sellers offering tickets for this year’s tennis Grand Slam event.
The All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) has won a High Court injunction preventing companies from trading non-debenture tickets and access to hospitality areas.
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, officials confirmed the organisation has begun legal proceedings to stop companies from offering tickets that are not allowed to be traded.
Wimbledon rules state that tickets can only be purchased via the public ballot, Ticketmaster or authorised agents including the LTA. The only tickets allowed to be freely traded are debenture tickets.
An AELTC spokesperson told the Telegraph: “The AELTC takes active steps to monitor and police the unauthorised sale of non-debenture (and therefore, non-transferable) tickets.
“When we find businesses selling non-transferable tickets in breach of the AELTC’s Conditions of Sale, at very substantial mark ups, the AELTC will take legal action to prevent this and it has obtained injunctions against many such sellers in the past.
“In addition, we work alongside the Police in the implementation of anti-tout measures in the area surrounding Wimbledon.
“We can confirm that legal action has been taken by the AELTC against a number of unauthorised sellers this year, but as legal action is continuing we are unable to go into further detail about those actions at the moment.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that two companies who had sold hundreds of passes for this year’s championships have been told the tickets have been voided as they have been found to be non-debenture.
TPT Ltd, which trades as Superstars, and events company Vision4Sport, insisted they had purchased the tickets “in good faith” from a third party they believed was authorised to sell tickets.
Both said they have now offered customers refunds or legitimate debenture tickets.
Image: Albert Lee
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