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Government now backs light regulation of secondary ticketing, rules to be added to Consumer Rights Bill

By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 26 February 2015

Secondary ticketing in the UK is set to be regulated after the Government made its own amendments to the in-development Consumer Rights Bill.

As previously reported, the House Of Lords previously added a section to the proposed consumer rights legislation that would provide some regulation of the resale of tickets online. The proposals were very much based on recommendations made by the All Party Parliamentary Group On Ticket Abuse earlier last year, which is led by Conservative MP Mike Weatherley and Labour MP Sharon Hodgson.

However, the proposed rules were not supported by the Government, which meant that, while the amendment was approved by the Lords, it couldn’t get the all-important OK in the House Of Commons. But when the bill bounced back to the Lords, this time the Government put forward its own secondary ticketing amends, which means they will almost certainly now get the nod from both houses of Parliament and become law.

The government’s proposals are not as wide-reaching as those originally proposed last year, with a bunch of get-outs added in, but it will mean that resellers of tickets to UK events will have to provide seat number information where relevant, details of any restrictions on the ticket, and state what the original face value was. The Government will also be compelled to review the state of play in a year’s time and report back to Parliament, while those involved in ticket reselling will be obliged to report any criminal activity they are aware of.

Although lighter regulation than they had originally hoped for, both Weatherley and Hodgson welcomed the latest developments yesterday. The former told reporters: “I am pleased that the Government has recognised the importance of regulation with regard to secondary ticketing, which will be to the benefit of us all. While the new amendment does not cover every change that we had hoped for, it is an important step in the right direction”.

Meanwhile Hodgson added: “My APPG colleagues and I have campaigned for years to make some real changes to this broken marketplace. The use of new technology has enabled touts to hoover up tickets and drive up prices at the expense of genuine fans, and the law needs to finally address this issue. It is becoming harder and harder for ordinary people to go to see the teams, events or bands that they love, meaning that attending these events will become the preserve of the well-off. I am pleased that the Government has finally recognised the importance of regulation with regard to secondary ticketing, which will be to the benefit of us all”.

“While the new amendment does not cover every change that we had hoped for it is an important step in the right direction. I look forward to the independent review on this issue and I hope that in it we will be able to address even more ways of improving this market in the interests of the fans, like increasing transparency still further to include the sellers identity, which is ultimately the key to cleaning up this industry. The only people that may be unhappy with these regulations are the touts, but I for one was very happy to see a real step forward yesterday in this campaign to at last put fans first”.