SNP MP Pete Wishart has revealed he was inundated with angry fans of his old band Runrig after tickets for a highly-anticipated reunion show were snapped up by touts.
Runrig’s farewell show at Stirling Castle sold out in record time, but tickets soon began appearing on online re-sale sites — at greatly inflated prices.
Mr Wishart, who was the band’s keyboard player, has now called on politicians to tackle Britain’s secondary ticketing crisis.
Leading a debate in Westminster on Wednesday, the Perth and North Perthshire MP argued the ticketing business in the UK was “broken and beyond repair” and is now a “rip-off machine”.
He said the industry had become “one of the biggest consumer crises we face in this country”.
Mr Wishart added: “It should be the easiest thing in the world. All you want to do is buy a ticket to see your favourite band.
“But swimming shark infested waters would probably be easier and safer than trying to buy a ticket for a popular show. From the first click of the mouse, music fans are exposed to any number of touts, profiteers and spivs determined to maximise their return at the expense of genuine music fans.”
Mr Wishart said: “My attention to this was raised when my old band Runrig put tickets on sale for their final show at Stirling Castle. Within minutes, my inbox was full of Runrig fans angry, frustrated and disappointed with the experience of trying to secure a ticket for the show.
“Within 12 minutes tickets were on secondary sites at several times the value of the original ticket.”
Mr Wishart said it wasn’t the responsibility of musicians to protect the public in consumer affairs. “That is the job of government,” he said. “And the government has been painfully slow to respond.”
