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Touts net huge profit on illegal cup final tickets
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Affairs Editor13 Feb 2008
Internet touts are advertising tickets for the Carling Cup final for up to £1,000 a piece despite a promised clampdown on illegal sales.
The prices for the all-London clash between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur this month are believed to be the highest ever commanded for the "junior" domestic knock-out competition.
Websites are brazenly flouting new legislation which gave the football authorities and police powers to prosecute super-touts and the companies they run.
The match on Sunday 24 February will be the first Carling Cup final to be held at the new Wembley Stadium and involves two well-supported clubs, each with an allocation of just over 31,000 tickets.
A further 24,000 have gone to members of Club Wembley, who are entitled to seats, other football clubs and sponsors.
But many thousands of tickets have ended up in the hands of touts, who are charging huge mark-ups on face values ranging from £38 to £80.
Seats in the Spurs sections of the stadium are currently commanding the highest prices as Chelsea have not yet sold all their allocation.
For example, one website is advertising seats behind the goal at the Chelsea end for just £250, compared with £700 for equivalent seats at the opposite end.
The Premier League and the Football League, which runs the competition, said they were planning to prosecute five websites. But they said they had been frustrated because the Home Office had not yet published detailed legal guidance to go with the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, which banned online resale of football tickets.
The Act became law in April last year so the football authorities and police would be able start closing down websites in time for the current season.
However, no prosecutions have yet been launched and almost all the sites are based abroad, making it harder for the authorities to bring prosecutions.
Football League spokesman John Nagle said: "Re-selling match tickets is a criminal offence and where tickets are made available for purchase this year action will be taken."
But fans said they doubted that the highly lucrative practice would ever be stamped out.
Toby Brown, editor of Chelsea fans' online forum CFC.net, said: "For every site you close down five will spring up."
Reader views (6)
Ticket touting has become almost part of the game and with the prices that the touts charge some would expect some of the seats to be empty, but people who can afford the wild prices obviously pay them and fill the seats. At least if you want a ticket and you have no choice you know where to go, but the prices are a bit high for a mickey mouse cup final. And everybody knows Arsenal are the best team in London.
- Ed, london, 20/02/2008 23:33
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Everyone knows Tottenham are the best supported club in London. There will always be a massive demand for their tickets. Always have been, always will.
- Andrew, London EC4, 13/02/2008 18:17
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Thing is Scott, it's the biggest thing to happen to Tottenham in nearly 50 years, they were bound to sell out a little bit quicker.
- Bob, London, 13/02/2008 16:56
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Bad luck, Scott. It's because Chelsea have been selling in stages based on loyalty points: tickets sold out today, with members still missing out. Oh, and it's Spurs' first cup final since 2002. Which they lost. To Blackburn. Now Chelsea have been to three cup finals in that time, all of which they won - against Liverpool, Arsenal and Man U. So who's the joke club now, Hmmm?
- Ollie, London, 13/02/2008 16:39
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Scott in Loughton, the operative word was "yet" in the sentence. The trouble is my friend, our little club keeps getting to finals, unlike Spurs, and we know, as members of our little club, that we don't need to rush for tickets like it's the last chance saloon.
They'll all be sold so don't worry, you'll be able to tout yours for a decent price when that happens. Then you can watch the final on TV, where you can also see our little club in the closing stages of the Champions League.
- Fresh, London, 13/02/2008 16:21
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I quote "Chelsea have not yet sold all their allocation". Big club? Big joke more like.
- Scott, Loughton, Essex, 13/02/2008 12:51
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