We'll cancel Adele tickets sold by touts, say Ticketmaster

The singer will be performing at Birmingham's Genting Arena on March 29 and 30 and now extra dates have been added for April 1 and 2.

But, in order to gain entry, ticket holders will be asked to present valid photo ID matching the name of the customer who placed the order printed on their ticket.

Each buyer must enter the concert at the same time as their guests and name changes will not be allowed.

The Ticketmaster website says: "Failure to bring photo ID matching the name will result in refusal of entry to the show. There will be no exception."

Pre-sale tickets for the two March shows sold out in just 10 minutes when they went on sale on Thursday, while the rest were snapped up after going on sale at 9am yesterday. A limited number of tickets for the new April gigs will go on pre-sale at noon tomorrow for the extra dates before tickets go on general sale on Monday.

More than half a million people registered for the 57,000 pre-sale tickets available. Despite a face value of between £35 and £95 they are fetching prices 20 times that online.

Meanwhile, in a bid to tackle the touts, The Ticket Factory, the national ticket agency that handles the 15,700-seater Genting Arena, says it plans to cancel all Adele tickets found for sale on secondary websites as opposed to authorised seller sites.

MD Stuart Cain said: "If we are aware of our tickets making their way to a secondary site, we will take steps to cancel them. We can trace them using the serial numbers and have the power to cancel and resell them.

"I'm hoping that Adele fans will get their tickets through an accredited STAR retailer without paying over the odds via these sites. The promoter has also requested that customers show photo ID on the night, meaning unless you've bought them from the primary agent, you'll be refused entry.

"If customers buy them from secondary sites and they are found to originate from The Ticket Factory then they also run the risk of losing their money."