Staunch anti ticket touting MP Sharon Hodgson has reiterated calls for action on secondary ticketing in a letter to new culture secretary Karen Bradley.
Hodgson, who is co-chair of the APPG on ticket abuse, led a delegation of APPG members to Wembley Stadium earlier this month on a fact-finding mission ahead of the Liverpool v Barcelona football match, and witnessed a number of prominent ticket touts in action.
“This fact-finding mission was to give members of our APPG an insight into how ticket touts operate and to understand further what work is needed by parliament and the government to ensure that fans are not continually ripped off by ticket touts,” wrote Labour MP Hodgson.
Hodgson called for the recommendations set out in the Waterson Review into the resale market to be enforced and noted there had “sadly” been no progress since the review was published in May.
“Fans are keen to see more action taken too,” she added. “For example, a petition was set up on the parliamentary petition’s website which has called for further action on transparency measures in the secondary market and has gained the support of bands and artists such as Mumford & Sons, One Direction and Little Mix.
“This is also complemented by the launch of a new fan-based campaign group called FanFair Alliance and is calling on the government to take four pragmatic steps around fraudulent activity in the secondary market, including enforcement of legislation, further transparency, corporate responsibility of resale platforms around consumer protection legislation and addressing use of technology such as ‘bots’, which harvest tickets and stop fans from getting tickets in the first place.”
Concluding her letter to Bradley, who replaced John Whittingdale in PM Theresa May's reshuffled cabinet last month, Hodgson added: “I hope that in your new position that you will be able to take this important agenda forward and work alongside the cross-party campaign here in parliament and the fans, music bodies, sports organisations and the many others who are keen to see action to address issues in the secondary ticketing market and ticket touts in general.”
