Fair Ticketing Alliance campaign launched to speak out in favour of responsible, secondary ticket operators
[LONDON, 16 April 2018] Today sees the launch of the newly created Fair Ticketing Alliance to campaign for a fair, trustworthy and flexible ticket market that works for all live entertainment fans. The Alliance was set up by a group of responsible UK ticket traders representing a cross section of the industry. It comes in the wake of increasing market uncertainty which threatens the future of their mainly small, often family-run, businesses and the valuable service they provide to fans.
The campaign aims to lobby for changes in UK law to give responsible, secondary operators the right to re-sell tickets whilst protecting consumer interests. Fair Ticketing Association chairman, Stephen Lee said:
“The ticketing market is currently failing to address the needs of live entertainment fans in the UK. A well-functioning secondary market should correct flaws in the primary market, but we are hamstrung by legal uncertainty that helps neither operators nor consumers.
“We believe responsible commercial operators should be free to re-sell tickets, like consumers, without unfair restrictions. In return, operators should be properly licensed and comply with the highest standards of ethics.”
The Fair Ticketing Alliance has three core objectives which it is campaigning for:
1. Greater legal and regulatory clarity about existing UK laws on secondary ticketing;
2. Government and regulatory bodies to ensure that secondary website platforms allow traders to comply fully with the law;
3. Changes in UK laws to give responsible, secondary operators the right to re-sell tickets whilst protecting consumer interests.
The Government deserves praise for introducing reforms into the secondary market that have led to some positive results to protect consumers. However, the Fair Ticketing Alliance believes more needs to be done to reform the market as a whole by licensing secondary operators who meet the highest standards and introducing more transparency into the primary market.
The Alliance intends to start speaking out on behalf of the industry and to engage politicians and others for legislative and regulatory changes that will improve the consumer experience, whilst protecting jobs and tax revenues for the Government.
Mr Lee concluded:
“For too long, the secondary ticketing industry has been in the shadows, suffering from a poor reputation, afraid to defend itself. We aim to change that. We’re all extremely passionate and have a deep knowledge of the entertainment areas in which we specialise, which enables us to provide a valuable and necessary service to other live entertainment fans. We just want to do the right thing within the law.
“That’s why we created the Fair Ticketing Alliance. We hope others who support our aims will join us in the campaign to improve the ticketing experience for all fans.”
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NOTES TO EDITORS
More information about the Fair Ticketing Alliance can be found on its website: www.fairticketing.co.uk or by following us on Twitter: @FairTicketing
Media contact:
Pete Bowyer
07740 913886