Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to tackle the use of computer systems by ticket tout companies to purchase multiple tickets for events.

The Government has a continuing interest in the area of secondary ticketing, and recognises the process of distributing and buying tickets can often be a cause for public frustration and concern. We are determined to crackdown on unacceptable behaviour and improve fans’ chances of buying tickets at a reasonable price.

An independent review of consumer protection measures was commissioned by the Government in 2015, undertaken by Professor Waterson, which was published in May 2016.

The report recognised that the use of computer software or ticketing ‘bots’ deprives fans of the chance to acquire tickets at the price established by the event organiser.

The Government published its response to the review on 13th March 2017, which welcomed its findings and accepted its nine recommendations in full. As part of our response, and in response to a series of roundtable discussions with industry and law enforcement agencies, we have tabled an amendment to the Digital Economy Bill which will give us the power to create a specific offence of using a ticketing bot to purchase more tickets than the maximum permitted, to put beyond doubt the illegality of this practice. Those found guilty of this offence will face an unlimited fine in England and Wales.