There are few greater pleasures than attending a live show or a sporting contest of some description.
The pity is that the experience is so often often marred by the behaviour of the companies that handle ticket sales.
Today the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has taken aim at one part of an industry that basically levies a poll tax on anyone attending an event: Secondary ticketing websites, of which there are four big guns, Seatwave, Stubhub, GetMeIn and ViaGoGo
The idea of a place to offload tickets that purchasers find themselves unable to use is a sensible one in theory.
However, the secondary market, as currently constituted, is not that, nor anything like it.
Too often it serves instead as the hottest show in town for sharks and scalpers, who always have the best seats in the house and a license to profiteer at the expense of fans’ devotion.
Tickets often appear there within minutes of shows being announced, and at extortionate mark ups, which sites profit handsomely from.
Sharp practice abounds, with some organisers of sporting events (according to the CMA) making extra on the side by selling directly through them, without bothering to inform their customers about what they’re up to.
The CMA, unfortunately, doesn't address sites’ model per se. It isn't trying to cure the disease. It seeks instead to provide painkillers for some of the worst symptoms, up to and including out and out law breaking.
Accusations it levies include the sale of tickets that become invalid if resold (some artists have used such terms in an attempt to thwart those who would scalp their fans).
It says consumers aren’t always made aware if sellers are businesses, or if they are other fans (buying from the latter may to be more palatable to them).
It also isn’t always made clear to them exactly where they will be seated.
An earlier CMA stab at the industry saw undertakings made that “one site” has failed to live up to. Unfortunately it isn't named, which means consumer can't protect themselves from it should they choose to do so.
The probe has now been widened to cover what the CMA describes as instances of pressure sales, businesses touting events they haven’t secured tickets for, and some sites making it difficult for customers to get refunds under their guarantees.
The watchdog also promises to work with Advertising and Trading Standards to nip problems in the bud.
So, good news. But only up to a point.
While the CMA’s activity may eventually serve to curb some of the industry's worst excesses, it’s a slow moving beast and it only targets one part of an industry that seems set up to fleece the consumer to an unacceptable degree. That includes primary sellers, with their bevy of extra charges and sometimes disgraceful treatment of certain customer groups (I have bitter experience of dealing with one site as a disabled gig goer).
It is true that there may be issues of greater concern in modern Britain, but the mass rip off of millions of people should always be seen as a scandal.
Some of the larger bands, Iron Maiden among those currently preparing to tour, have, it's true, sought to take action of their own, though the use of paperless tickets for example.
But this is an issue that requires the intervention of a higher authority than even the CMA. While the Government has taken some measures with the aim of bringing a degree of sanity to the situation, more is required. Perhaps there's a chance here for the Department for Culture Media & Sport to prove that it is relevant?
