Spotlight On Touting

Last updated : 22 August 2007 By Editor

The Times:

The Government has been urged to crack down on ticket touting after it emerged that more than 100 tickets for tonight's match between England and Germany at Wembley are being sold illegally online.

The friendly fixture at the 90,000-seat stadium is a sell-out, but an investigation by the Liberal Democrats has found that tickets are being sold by touts for up to six times their face value.

Don Foster, the party's culture, media and sport spokesman, said that touting priced some supporters out of watching matches and created a public order risk.

"We're not talking about a few touts hanging around a football stadium — this is now a highly sophisticated criminal activity which is extremely lucrative," he said.

"Touting was made illegal in order to safeguard public order and improve crowd safety, but these touts seem to be flouting the law with apparent impunity.

"The FA needs help to combat touting but, with less than 30 prosecutions each year, the Government just isn't taking this problem seriously."