Website blames human error for the advert, now removed, for about 100 seats when practice is illegal in UK
The ticket trading website Viagogo has apologised for “mistakenly” advertising tickets to an upcoming England football match, despite the fact that the resale of football tickets is illegal in the UK.
Cris Miller, the managing director of Viagogo,has previously said the company does not resell football tickets. But Viagogo was advertising about 100 seats at Wembley for England’s 7 June friendly against Iceland, a warm-up for this summer’s Euro 2024 tournament in Germany.
Most appeared to have been listed by a handful of “traders”, the website’s term for professional touts, who it defines as anyone selling more than 100 tickets a year. One lone trader, based in east London, advertised more than 70 tickets in batches of up to 12, some for more than £400. Viagogo takes a cut from both buyers and sellers on each sale made through its website.
The Football Association said it had not authorised Viagogo to resell tickets for the match, prompting criticism from the government, MPs and an event security expert.
Viagogo told the Guardian: “A human error led to this event listing being mistakenly created and it was removed as soon as we were made aware. We extend our sincere apologies to those fans who bought tickets, and we are in the process of providing them with a full refund as well as a 100% voucher.
“Unauthorised listings are strictly prohibited on our marketplace and we’ve reviewed our processes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Resale of football tickets without permission from clubs or football’s governing bodies has been illegal in England and Wales since 1994, a measure recommended by the Taylor report that sought to improve fan safety after the Hillsborough disaster.
Reg Walker, a security consultant and ticketing expert, said: “There is reason to suspect that the listing of England tickets for this match was unlawful.”
The Metropolitan police have been approached for comment.
The FA indicated that anyone found to have bought tickets through Viagogo could have been denied entry at the turnstile.
“We strongly advise against anyone purchasing tickets on the secondary market,” said an FA spokesperson. “We also make every effort to trace tickets that are listed for sale on unofficial channels and, where possible, will cancel these tickets.”
The listings for England v Iceland disappeared from the Viagogo website after the Guardian contacted the company on Thursday evening. It is unclear how long they were online or how many people had already bought them and are now owed refunds.
Labour is seeking to crack down on ticket touting, including for concerts and theatre, by introducing a cap on the value of resale at 10% above face value.
Barbara Keeley, the shadow minister for music and tourism, called on the government to “set out what action it is taking to tackle activity like this”.
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She added: “Labour will clamp down on ticket touts who rip off working people by capping resale prices and giving the Competition and Markets Authority the powers it needs to regulate resale platforms.”
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said the resale of England tickets was a criminal offence and that it was committed to “tackling unacceptable behaviour in this market”.
However, the Department for Business and Trade has previously rejected proposals put forward by the CMA for tougher regulation of ticket resale. The business minister Kevin Hollinrake told parliament recently that he had “quite happily used Viagogo on many occasions”.
The Labour MP Sharon Hodgson said Viagogo’s explanation of human error amounted to “excuses” and highlighted other countries where regulators have fined the company, including Australia, France and Italy.
The gaffe comes at a sensitive time for Viagogo, which has been lobbying MPs against the prospect of harsher regulation of ticket resale, known as “secondary ticketing”.
On Friday, ticket touts who conspired to “fleece” fans of artists including Ed Sheeran, Liam Gallagher and Lady Gaga, using websites including Viagogo, were jailed for operating a “fraudulent trading” scheme worth more than £6.5m.
A Viagogo spokesperson said “bad actors go against all we stand for”, adding that it had safety measures in place to protect fans.
