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1m tickets sold for Sheeran UK dates…but 10k cancelled

Kili, AEG and DHP Family have sold more than a million tickets for next summer's stadium dates – of which 10,000 have been invalidated after being touted on Viagogo

By IQ on 17 Jul 2017

Ed Sheeran, Kmeron, 2014, Forest National arena, Brussels, Divide tour

image © Kmeron

A remarkable one in 65 Britons are seeing Ed Sheeran’s 2018 stadium shows, with in excess of one million tickets having been sold since 8 July, promoters Kilimanjaro Live, DHP Family and AEG Presents have announced.

Sheeran’s third world tour, ÷ (Divide), returns to Europe next summer, with the British superstar playing four nights at Etihad Stadium (60,000-cap.) in Manchester from 24 to 27 May, three at Hampden Park (90,000-cap.) in Glasgow from 1 to 3 June, three at St James’ Park (~52,000-cap.) in Newcastle from 8 to 10 June, four at Wembley Stadium (90,000-cap.) in London from 14 to 17 June and four at Principality Stadium (74,500-cap.) in Cardiff from 21 to 14 June.

According to the promoters, more than 90% of tickets were bought at face value by Ed Sheeran fans, with just 10% finding their way into the hands of touts. The three warned buyers that tickets re-listed anywhere but on the official resale site, Twickets, would be “instantly” cancelled.

Sheeran is a vocal opponent of for-profit secondary ticketing, and his manager, Stuart Camp, has given evidence to a parliamentary hearing on ‘ticket abuse’.

Despite this warning, reads a joint statement from Kili, DHP and AEG, “it has has become clear that one such company, Viagogo, have ignored the promoters’ requests, and there is an increasing number of customers who are realising they have been duped by Viagogo’s false advertising and have unfortunately become victims of massive hidden overcharging for tickets. […]

“Up to 10,000 tickets have now been cancelled and are being returned back into the marketplace for individual fans to purchase at face value”

“The promoters have been monitoring the sales transactions in close conjunction with the National Trading Standards cyber crime team and have identified many multiple purchases which are in contravention of the terms and conditions for the sale of the Ed Sheeran tickets. As a result, up to 10,000 tickets have now been cancelled and are being returned back into the marketplace for individual fans to purchase at face value.”

The official primary ticket agencies for the UK tour are See Tickets and Ticketmaster.

In addition to cancelling the tickets, the promoters have reported all secondary ticket listings that violate the newly updated Consumer Rights Act – which requires a ‘unique ticket number’ to be displayed when a ticket is listed for resale – to the CMA to aid its ongoing investigation into suspected breaches of the law among ticket resale sites.

Any customers who are concerned they may have been “defrauded” by Viagogo have been directed to Claire Turnham’s ‘self-help guide’ for obtaining a refund, hosted on the FanFair Alliance website.

Sheeran’s next ÷ tour show is at the Videotron Centre (20,396-cap.) in Quebec tomorrow. An Asian leg kicks off in Taipei on 22 October.

 


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