The petition of residents of the constituency of Linlithgow and East Falkirk,
Declares that there is frustration with the dynamic pricing strategy and secondary ticket selling within the UK market; acknowledges the unfairness of increasing prices to an unreasonable level and reselling of tickets at grossly inflated prices; notes the recent publicised problems with entry to events that these practices cause; and believe that urgent action should be taken to mitigate these issues.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to acknowledge these problems and reconsider introducing further regulation in this area, or support an inquiry into the practices of ticket sales and distribution companies operating in the UK.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Martyn Day, Official Report, 12 September 2023; Vol. 737, c. 878.]
[P002854]
Observations from the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure (Sir John Whittingdale):
We are committed to supporting fair and transparent ticket pricing and tackling unacceptable behaviour in this market.
We have strengthened the law in relation to ticketing information requirements and have introduced a criminal offence of using automated software to buy more tickets online than is allowed. We also support the work of enforcement agencies in this area, such as the Competition and Markets Authority, National Trading Standards, and the advertising industry’s own regulator the Advertising Standards Authority. In addition, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will give enforcers new administrative and fining powers to protect consumers, including those buying tickets from the secondary market.
Ultimately, ticket pricing strategies are a matter for event organisers and ticketing platforms, providing they comply with relevant legislation. As consumer legislation including the Consumer Rights Act 2015 makes clear, event organisers and ticketing platforms are expected to be transparent with customers on how they price their tickets, the total charge and what terms and other measures apply to their use. This is to help consumers to make an informed decision. To gather further information on necessary protections, the Department for Business and Trade is currently undertaking a public consultation on key areas of consumer information transparency, “Smarter Regulation: Consultation on Improving Price Transparency and Product Information for Consumers”, which closed on 15 October.