Clause 29 - Sale of Tickets
London Olympics Bill
12:15 pm
Hugh Robertson (Shadow Minister (Sport), The Family & Culture, Media & Sport; Faversham and Mid Kent, Conservative)
I shall take a few moments of the Committee’s time to explore with the Minister the question of ticket touting, not least because several organisations, which he will know, have approached me and the hon. Member for Bath, as I am sure they have approached the Minister, about the question of ticket touting in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics and the effect that it has on other sports.
The Minister will be aware that there are some very powerful arguments in favour of a more general ban than the one proposed in the Bill. There is the question of security. He will know that the cricket authorities are very worried about the security of some of the touring teams that are due to come to these shores in the next few years. There is also the question of public order and extra policing outside the ground, and of the cost to the national governing bodies of sport that must police ticket touting because it is not yet illegal.
There is also the knock-on effect that ticket touting has on the availability of tickets for real fans. I am told that there is now a very considerable industry whereby firms speed dial and hold the numbers when tickets are released on the market, thereby denying access to ordinary sports fans.
We should also consider the proceeds of crime. The National Criminal Intelligence Service reports that ticket touts are very often part of a much wider criminal operation, and the four sport consortia reckon that ticket touting is now part of a vast organised criminal business. I am told that it can account for some £100 million a year, and that more than 2.2 million tickets worldwide now exchange hands on the black market. Clearly, anyone buying those tickets suffers from a total lack of guarantee over the security of the purchase. Indeed, the practice is outlawed in Scotland. This is not the time for a wider debate, but I wish to tease out the Minister’s thoughts and those of his Department on whether, in view of the fact that the argument has been accepted for the London 2012 Olympics, we need to consider preparing the way for widening the regulations.