Black Sabbath fans' fury at £400 tout tickets

Hundreds of dedicated Black Sabbath fans have missed seeing their heroes play a rare hometown gig after ruthless ticket touts sold them online for up to five times their face value.

While lucky fans who made it to the front of the queue to see next week's show at Birmingham's O2 Academy paid just £45 per ticket, those who have to resort to online re-sale sites such as ebay or Get Me In have to shell out between £136 to £250 each.

One unscrupulous dealer has even put a 'Buy It Now' price of £400 on a single ticket.

The band, with Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, will play the venue on May 19 – their first Birmingham show for 13 years.

One fan, Chris Smith said by the time he got on the ticket website, just half an hour after they went on sale at 9am on Friday, they were sold out.

The 24-year-old supermarket worker of Newbury Lane, Oldbury, said: "I thought that they would be popular but never expected that. I was so disappointed. So I went onto ebay to see if I could get hold of any at least close to the face value. But they were already going for twice the amount.

"If they were genuine fans who had to sell on tickets and people bidding had driven the price up, then fair enough. But these are just underhand touts who are depriving real fans of seeing some of the most famous rockers of all time unless they are willing to fork out a fortune."

And lifelong fan Ian Francis, 49, from Brewood, said: "For genuine fans, to see tickets snapped up by these people who take advantage of their desire to go to a really special show is more than infuriating and it's very unfair."

The show is being organised by Live Nation. Spokeswoman Charley Johns today declined to comment.