The PM must honour his pledge to protect fans from touts
Rocio Concha, Director of Policy and Advocacy
| Which?
Some of the biggest names in music have come together with groups representing consumers and the industry to call on Sir Keir Starmer to honour his pledge to protect fans from online ticket touts.
First comes the excitement. Your favourite musical act has announced they’re coming to play a venue near you. Then the anticipation. Alarms are set and multiple devices are lined up for the moment tickets go on sale. But, almost within the blink of an eye, the hopes are dashed. Tickets have sold out in a flash - only for them to reappear on secondary ticketing websites at five times the price.
A new Which? investigation highlights how global touting operations, with prolific sellers dotted across the world in places like Brazil, Dubai and the US, are targeting the UK. They know that if they can hoover up tickets, fans desperate to see their favourite artists or teams will feel they have no choice but to cough up the money. It’s greed - pure and simple.
This exploitative, pernicious activity only serves the interest of touts, hell-bent on preventing genuine fans from seeing the live shows they want to - whether it be music, theatre or sporting events. Resale platforms have allowed these touts to bulk buy tickets and sell them with an eye-watering mark-up.
Many Oasis fans were desperate to see the band reform this summer, yet tickets for Wembley Stadium shows were listed for £3,498.85 on Stubhub and £4,442 on Viagogo. A Coldplay ticket, also for Wembley Stadium, was £814.52 on Stubhub. The initial face value of tickets for Oasis at Wembley was £74.25.
NFL fans hoping to see the Minnesota Vikings take on the Cleveland Browns at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium were asked to stump up £3,568.39 on Stubhub for a ticket. Some tickets were initially available at around £100.
The most extreme example Which? found was a ticket for the All Points East festival in London’s Victoria Park, headlined by Raye, listed for a scarcely believable £114,666 on Viagogo. Face value tickets should have been no more than £80.
Viagogo told us that ‘most of its sellers use its platform to sell a few tickets they can no longer use’ and that 84 per cent of tickets on their sites for UK events for 2025 YTD had an average ticket price of under £100. They say they comply with the Competition and Markets Authority’s regulations and that sellers in breach of these regulations would face consequences. Stubhub told us it is ‘committed to providing fans with a safe, trusted and transparent marketplace to buy and sell tickets, and is fully compliant with UK regulations.’ Both sites said they prohibit and will remove speculative listings from their platforms.
The upshot of all of this is that fans are left in the unenviable position of either being forced to pay significantly above the odds or simply miss out entirely on live events. This is often despite the best efforts of the artists themselves to ensure their shows are affordable and accessible.
Now, some of the biggest names in music, including Dua Lipa, Coldplay, Radiohead and Sam Fender, who have had enough of seeing their fans exploited, have joined Which? in calling for the prime minister to commit to price cap legislation in the next King’s Speech. This would honour a Labour Party’s manifesto pledge to improve protections for fans, given before last year’s general election.
A range of organisations representing the music and theatre industries, venues, managers and ticket retailers have also signed up to the joint statement, saying enough is enough.
Some critics will instinctively see a price cap as a market distortion. But this is about restoring balance - and fairness - where the market has already failed. A resale cap would stop blatant profiteering, make it easier to spot ticketing fraud, and help ensure live music, theatre and sporting events remain accessible to the people who love them most.
It’s time for the prime minister to take centre stage and let the audience know he is on their side.
Rocio Concha is Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy
