Government suggests photo ID to combat ticket touts
It's surprising it hasn't been considered before now, but perhaps no more so than somebody believing a mobile phone could brew coffee. The idiot. The Government is proposing a voluntary code of principles for ticket retailers, the most fundamental aspect of which would be buyers requiring ID to get into concerts and events.
As an example, the Government paper points to concerts by Tom Waits last year, in which names were printed on the tickets and photo ID was needed to verify ownership. It's one of several suggestions being put forward to stop touts ripping the arse out of other people's wallets. The Guardian quotes sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe as saying:
"Real efforts are being made by some event organisers to thwart the touts and ensure as many tickets as possible go straight to real fans. But most of the time, tickets go to whoever is quickest online on the day they go on sale - and too much of the time, that is touts who simply want to resell at a profit. The industry now needs to quickly build on these successful new approaches and ensure they become much more widespread."
Goodness. Labour government in moment of clarity shocker. Touting has been a recognised evil of the the event experience since the dawn of time; if a move as simple as printing an individual's details on the ticket would solve it, it'd mean I wouldn't have to spend a day of my life pressing redial and watching websites fall over, before being told I couldn't go. My continued happiness on this planet should be reason enough for ticket retailers to make this happen.
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