A few years ago a ticket tout was a rather seedy chap hanging around a concert venue trying to flog tickets to passers-by. Today the touts (not pictured) have moved into the hi-tech world of the internet with staggering efficiency. Within hours of tickets for rock band The Killers going on sale at Wolverhampton’s Civic they were appearing on ebay for the grossly inflated price of £200.
And it doesn’t stop there. There is nothing to stop these scalpers getting their hands on tickets for football matches, Weston Park concerts or any other popular event. They then sell them to the highest bidder.
In the case of The Killers concert, the band won’t see a penny of this money. The cash-strapped Civic won’t see any of it either. And fans will suffer through being forced to pay over-the-top prices.
Someone somewhere needs to find a way of cracking down on this activity in which everyone loses but the touts
The internet appears to have allowed this underground activity to reach industrial proportions, with increasing concern that organised crime is starting to get involved because of the opportunity to make big money
What was once a minor annoyance is taking on the proportions of a much more serious problem, with ordinary music fans and football fans potentially being priced out of the opportunity to follow the music and teams they love.
With the existing technology to fit silicon chips into tickets - as was used at the World Cup in Germany this summer - surely some way can be found to ensure that someone handing in a ticket at an event is the person who bought it in the first place.
Is oak logo such a mighty symbol?
IF the scribbled oak tree logo is the best symbol the Tory party could come up with, then the Conservatives are in even more trouble than we thought.
Apparently intended to flag up the party’s new, ecologically sensitive, policies, it has been dismissed by virtually everyone as infantile rubbish. It looks more like the rather poorly executed logo for a building society than a political party that wants to run this country.
And they paid £40,000 for it. One wonders how long it took the London design company Perfect Day to come up with the scribbled tree; they must have been laughing all the way to the bank. Not the best use of party funds, supporters may feel.
Rather than replacing the perfectly servicable and well recognised torch emblem, perhaps David Cameron and his team should concentrate on coming up with some sensible policies.
The Conservative Party won’t win the next election with kid’s drawings. The people of this country are fed up with too much tax, too much government and too much Labour Party spin. They want answers in return for votes, not logos.
Hi-tech touts are killing fun
And it doesn’t stop there. There is nothing to stop these scalpers getting their hands on tickets for football matches, Weston Park concerts or any other popular event. They then sell them to the highest bidder.
In the case of The Killers concert, the band won’t see a penny of this money. The cash-strapped Civic won’t see any of it either. And fans will suffer through being forced to pay over-the-top prices.
Someone somewhere needs to find a way of cracking down on this activity in which everyone loses but the touts
The internet appears to have allowed this underground activity to reach industrial proportions, with increasing concern that organised crime is starting to get involved because of the opportunity to make big money
What was once a minor annoyance is taking on the proportions of a much more serious problem, with ordinary music fans and football fans potentially being priced out of the opportunity to follow the music and teams they love.
With the existing technology to fit silicon chips into tickets - as was used at the World Cup in Germany this summer - surely some way can be found to ensure that someone handing in a ticket at an event is the person who bought it in the first place.
Is oak logo such a mighty symbol?
IF the scribbled oak tree logo is the best symbol the Tory party could come up with, then the Conservatives are in even more trouble than we thought.
Apparently intended to flag up the party’s new, ecologically sensitive, policies, it has been dismissed by virtually everyone as infantile rubbish. It looks more like the rather poorly executed logo for a building society than a political party that wants to run this country.
And they paid £40,000 for it. One wonders how long it took the London design company Perfect Day to come up with the scribbled tree; they must have been laughing all the way to the bank. Not the best use of party funds, supporters may feel.
Rather than replacing the perfectly servicable and well recognised torch emblem, perhaps David Cameron and his team should concentrate on coming up with some sensible policies.
The Conservative Party won’t win the next election with kid’s drawings. The people of this country are fed up with too much tax, too much government and too much Labour Party spin. They want answers in return for votes, not logos.
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