By Graeme Cleland

RADIO ONE yesterday took action to combat internet touts trying to cash in on its Big Weekend event in Dundee.

The BBC invalidated a number of back stage passes after learning they had been offered for sale on an online auction site.

The colour-coded wristbands were fetching prices as high as £500 before the corporation took steps to prevent their resale.

It is thought they may have originally been given out to music industry figures before they found their way on to the web.

Vigilante music fans, however, annoyed at people trying to cash in on the free festival also appeared to have taken matters into their own hands.

Touts offering tickets and passes for sale on the internet were flooded with fake or “spam” offers as high as seven to eight thousand pounds in a bid to disrupt their activities.

Despite this there was a growing number of day tickets for Saturday and Sunday being offered up for auction—with the average bids between £50 and £100 a pair.

A Radio 1 spokesman said, “We are obviously against anyone who tries to make money out of what is a free music event but obviously, as with any major event of this kind, there is a chance this sort of thing will happen.”

He said they had invalidated the colour of passes that had been put up for sale and informed the seller.

Addressing concerns that not enough tickets had gone to people in Dundee, the spokesman went on, “With over 300,000 applications in the ballot and only 30,000 tickets to go round, there are obviously going to be a lot of disappointed people out there.

“However, we know the people who are supposed to have got them have done so and we are sure they will have a great weekend.”

The selling of the free tickets online, which is actually against auction website rules, has undermined the efforts of Radio 1 to try to stop touts ripping off genuine music fans.

A new ticketing system was put in place, with no advance confirmation of allocation and briefs issued as close to the festival as possible to try to stop them being resold.

It seems that, as soon as some people received tickets through the ballot, they rushed to put the up for sale and net themselves a tidy profit.

It had been suggested a significant portion of the tickets available would be allocated to Dundee postcodes in recognition of its status as host venue but disappointed fans flooded Radio 1 internet message boards yesterday to voice their frustration at missing out.

Royal Mail said yesterday that music fans in Dundee lucky enough to have been allocated tickets should have received them by yesterday.

A spokesman was confident the majority of tickets would be delivered on time and that Royal Mail was doing everything it could to make sure the they arrived safely.

It is expected that posties in Dundee would deliver around 10,000 pairs of tickets throughout the day.

“The postmen and women in Dundee are all aware of what a big event this is for the city and are delighted to be playing their part in getting tickets out to ballot winners,” added the spokesman.

There were no special arrangements in place to deal with the mailing as the company regularly handled much larger issues with no problems.

The spokesman also moved to allay fears that postal staff may be tempted to take any tickets.

“The tickets are all in plain, unmarked envelopes so there is nothing to distinguish them from normal mail,” he went on.

“Royal Mail takes its responsibilities seriously and will do everything to make sure tickets are delivered to those intended to receive them.”

The complaint hotline will only be operational during the Big Weekend.