Rugby World Cup organisers have opened up a new front in their battle to prevent tickets being resold for huge profits, targeting hundreds of individuals and dozens of websites. Organisers have revealed that they have issued more than 600 letters to people selling their tickets on secondary ticketing sites. They were urged to use the official resale channel instead and warned that failure to comply was against terms and conditions.
England Rugby 2015 said that the majority had complied. However, there are still hundreds of tickets available on secondary ticketing websites and after organisers failed to persuade the government to criminalise the resale of tickets, swarms of touts have been spotted around stadiums.
It has also issued cease and desist letters to 46 websites, 30 of which were based overseas. Eight have been shut down. City of London police have also targeted fraudsters offering nonexistent tickets.
One legitimate secondary ticketing site, Viagogo, said this week that tickets for England’s clash with Australia were being sold for £4,000 each – the most for any non-final in any sport since it launched.
Secondary sites argue they provide a valuable service to consumers. The recent Consumer Rights Act forced secondary sites to display the exact location of each ticket in the interests of transparency but there is concern that some are not fully complying.
An England 2015 spokesperson said: “Our ticket terms and conditions prohibit the resale of tickets using secondary market websites. Anyone purchasing Rugby World Cup tickets from these websites runs the risk that they will be refused entry to the match. We recognise that there may be valid reasons why someone can no longer use their tickets and for this reason we allow fans to resell their tickets at face value to other rugby fans through our official ticketing website at tickets.rugbyworldcup.com. So far over 55,000 tickets have been resold in this way.”
Although reselling Rugby World Cup tickets is not in itself a criminal offence, the Metropolitan Police said six men were arrested in Twickenham under the Proceeds of Crime Act after being observed selling Rugby World Cup tickets before the England v Wales match. Officers seized 12 tickets and £4,000 and all six were bailed pending further inquiries.
In a separate operation a 30 year-old-man was arrested in Essex on 16 September in connection with an investigation into ticket fraud following the seizure, the week before, of a parcel containing over 300 Rugby World Cup tickets. He was bailed to a date in October pending further enquiries.
“The Met continues to work closely with England Rugby to tackle ticket touts and ticket fraud. Police advice is simple; do not buy tickets from touts or unauthorised sites,” said a Scotland Yard spokesman. “You not only risk paying well over the odds for the ticket but are likely to find you are unable to get into the event.”
Meanwhile, World Cup organisers and travel providers have introduced a raft of changes to the transport operation in Cardiff for the remainder of the tournament in the wake of mounting criticism. Supporters attending the three matches at the Millennium Stadium have complained of long queues and overcrowded trains as they have struggled to get to and from Cardiff, while there have been other complaints about transport at matches at Gloucester and in London.
The organisers met with Great Western Railway and Arriva Trains Wales on Friday for a round of crisis talks.
They said the new measures – additional trains, changes to the timetable, more park and ride spaces, new shuttle buses to Bristol and better queuing systems – would help improve the passenger experience for the remaining five matches.
