Research from the UK’s leading security company Group 4 Securicor suggests that a massive 2.23 million tickets for events such as concerts and football matches may be bought from unauthorised sources over the next 12 months.

The black market for tickets is thought to be worth £11.4 million annually here in the UK, while it’s estimated that, during the past five years, over 11 million British adults have bought tickets from unauthorised sources.

Group 4 Securicor, who commissioned the research, believe that the findings highlight a growing problem for event organisers and venue security teams. The illegal re-sale of tickets can result in reduced revenues for event organisers, at the same time creating major safety and security risks for those people legitimately attending public events. It is estimated that ticket touts will earn £3.6 million from selling tickets on the black market during 2005.

Employers should be aware that they could be exposed to litigation and censure for allowing their computer networks and e-mail systems to be used for the unauthorised re-sale of tickets.

Over 390,000 tickets will be sold via work e-mails this year.

Douglas Greenwell – marketing director of Group 4 Securicor (UK Security) – said: “Event organisers cannot afford to ignore the problems associated with the unauthorised re-sale of tickets for public events. Specific security solutions must be used to combat the touts and protect organisers’ revenues. That will also go some way towards protecting innocent members of the public, who may be intimidated into buying and selling tickets due to aggressive touting by black market sellers.”

Source

SMT