Sir Keir Starmer vows to tackle issue of ticket pricing following Oasis furore

Sir Keir Starmer has said the Government will get a “grip” on the issue of surge pricing after hundreds of fans complained about inflated prices for Oasis reunion tour tickets.

Some fans were left shocked by standard tickets more than doubling from £148 to £355 on Ticketmaster due to demand, and the Culture Secretary has pledged to look into the use of dynamic pricing in its forthcoming Government review of the secondary gig sales market.

Addressing the issue on Monday, the Prime Minister spoke to Matt Chorley on BBC Radio 5 Live and said: “This is really important, because this isn’t just an Oasis problem.

“This is a problem for tickets for all sorts of events, where people go online straight away, as soon as they can, and within seconds sometimes, sometimes minutes, all the tickets are gone, and the prices start going through the roof, which means many people can’t afford it.

“You have to stop that. We’re consulting on that.

“I do think there are a number of things that we can do and we should do, because otherwise you get to the situation where families simply can’t go, or are absolutely spending a fortune on tickets, whatever it may be.

“So we’ll grip this and make sure that actually tickets are available at a price that people can actually afford.”

Asked if that could mean changing the law, he said: “I mean, we’re consulting, and it may well mean adjustments, but there are a number of techniques going on here where people are buying a lot of tickets, reselling at a huge price, and that’s just not fair, and it’s just pricing people out of the market.

“And every parent will know, in relation to children, the pressure to get tickets for events, I certainly do.”

The Brit-pop band from Manchester, who split nearly 15 years ago, announced their long awaited reunion on August 27.

On August 31, they revealed the general sale tickets to their UK and Ireland gigs had sold out in less than a day.

Many fans missed out on the reunion tour tickets as they battled with website issues, and being mislabelled as bots.

Other international dates are still to be announced, but no more UK shows will be added to their tour, the PA news agency understands.

Following the ticket furore, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 450 complaints about Ticketmaster adverts for the Oasis gigs.

A spokesperson for the UK’s regulator of advertising said the complainants argue that the adverts made “misleading claims about availability and pricing”.

They added: “We’re carefully assessing these complaints and, as such, can’t comment any further at this time.

“To emphasise, we are not currently investigating these ads.”

Ticketmaster said it does not set prices and its website says this is down to the “event organiser” who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”.

Sylvia Rook, lead officer for fair trading at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), said “dynamic pricing is an accepted practice for holidays, flights and taxis, the difference here is that consumers are informed of the price before they decide to make a purchase.”

She added: “In this case, the public were given a price for tickets, and were not informed until they finally got to the front of the queue, that the price had increased.”

“Dynamic, or fluid pricing, is not specifically prohibited by consumer protection law; the important factor is that consumers are not misled by the indicated price,” she added.

“It is a breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 if a trader misleads consumers regarding the price of goods and services, if that causes the average consumer to take a different ‘transactional decision’.”

According to Ms Rook, the CTSI “will be working with the Government to see how consumers can be better protected with regard to the sale of event tickets.”

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy released a statement on Sunday calling the inflated selling of Oasis tickets “incredibly depressing”.

“After the incredible news of Oasis’ return, it’s depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live”, she said.

“This Government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of music. So we will include issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation on consumer protections for ticket resales.

“Working with artists, industry and fans we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair prices.”

It is believed the ticket prices for Oasis gigs were set by promoters.

The band’s promoters, Manchester-based SJM Concerts, Irish MCD and Scottish DF Concerts & Events have all been approached for comment.

There has also been concern about the non-official sellers Viagogo, who are listing resale tickets for thousands of pounds.

The secondary seller has defended the practice saying fans sell the tickets, and its global managing director added: “Resale is legal in the UK and fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets in time for the event or their money back.”

They added that “prohibiting free market resale – as seen in Ireland”, where it seemed no tickets had been listed for Dublin’s Croke Park, “only leads to a surge in scams”.

Ireland’s minister for enterprise, trade and employment, Peter Burke said he is “committed to ensuring consumers are provided with sufficient pricing information” before buying concert tickets.

“Concert ticket sales over the weekend have caused distress amongst some consumers and I have asked the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) to report to me on their review of pricing strategies employed”, he added.

Oasis have told followers that Ticketmaster and Twickets should only be used for resales, and put up for prices at “face value”, otherwise they will be “cancelled by the promoters”.