Hodgson Tackles Bradley On Touts

MP Sharon Hodgson has reiterated calls for action on secondary ticketing in a letter to new culture secretary Karen Bradley.

MP for Sunderland West and Washington Hodgson is a long term anti touting campaigner and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on ticket abuse. The MP wrote to Bradleyafter attending a fact finding mission at Wembley Stadium earlier this month ahead of the Liverpool v Barcelona football match, unsurprisingly finding a number of touts undeterred and in action.

Hodgson wrote: “This fact-finding mission was to give members of our APPG an insight into how ticket touts operate and to understand further, what work is needed by Parliament and the Government to ensure that fans are not continually ripped off by ticket touts”.

The letter continued: “I hope that in your new position that you will be able to take this important agenda forward and work alongside the cross-party campaign here in Parliament and the fans, music bodies, sports organisations and the many others who are keen to see action to address issues in the secondary ticketing market and ticket touts in general”.

Hodgson also called for the recommendations in the Waterson review to be enforced, referencing the recent launch of the FanFair Alliance, an industry group calling on the Government to take four pragmatic steps around fraudulent activity in the secondary market. As reported, these include including enforcement of existing legislation, further transparency, corporate responsibility of resale platforms around consumer protection legislation and addressing use of tout technology including ‘bots’.

Bradley replaced John Whittingdale as Culture Secretary in a mayhem reshuffle last month, and recently set out her stall in a maiden speech, focusing on promoting diversity and improving access to arts and culture.