London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks tickets on sale online for £600 each
|
Version 0 of 1. Controversy surrounding the decision to charge people for the first time to attend London’s New Year’s Eve firework display has intensifed after it emerged that £10 tickets are changing hands for more than £600. Labour has attacked the capital’s mayor, Boris Johnson, saying no system has been put in place to prevent touts profiting from the annual celebration, which is expected to attract 100,000 people. The decision to charge for the event for the first time since it was established in 2003, has already attracted criticism. The mayor’s office has said the charge is to pay for ticketing and as the extra infrastructure required. The website Viagogo.com lists two tickets for sale at £612.68 each. With booking fees, the bill for both would come to £1,409.15. Labour’s economic spokeswoman on the London assembly, Fiona Twycross, described the situation as shameful. “This is a celebration funded entirely by the public through their taxes. It is bad enough that Boris Johnson wants to exclude many families from this event who will not be able to afford a £10 ticket, but it is absolutely shameful that no protection appears to have been put in place to prevent touting,” she said. “Touting was successfully prevented during the London Olympics, so it would highlight an extraordinary level of carelessness if it emerges that these same policies weren’t automatically applied to this event as well.” A Scandinavian ticketing company, Billetto, has offered to run the ticketing operation for free, leaving the mayor’s office with the bill for security, an offer which has attracted some online support. Purchase conditions officially states that the tickets are for the use of the purchaser only and that reselling them is in breach of the terms of sale. Last year, the fireworks drew about 500,000 people. Those who do not get tickets have been advised to watch the display on the BBC. A spokesman for Johnson said later: “To help us stamp out touting and second selling we’d urge everyone to only purchase through the official site. There are tens of thousands of tickets still available so there is absolutely no need to pay more. If you get a ticket and change your mind we have an easy refund policy with full refunds available up to 28 days before the event. All returned tickets will be resold.” . |