About 60 people have been turned away from the new Harry Potter play after buying tickets from unauthorised retailers, producers have said.
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Staff at London’s Palace Theater have been told to refuse entry to anyone with tickets that have been resold online, usually for silly amounts of money. According to The Guardian, one case reported is of a ticket that cost £140 (around $190) going for an eye-watering £8,327 (above $10,000.) United Kingdom laws about selling on tickets are vague, with some aspects of touting illegal and some which get around the current legislation.
A ticket in the stalls for the evening performance of just part two of the play on Friday March 3 is on sale for £8,377 on Viagogo, which includes a £1,783 booking fee.
Producers described the secondary-ticket market as an “industry-wide plague” as they pledged to crack down on profiteering touts.
The spokeswoman said anyone turned away will be provided with a replacement ticket or, failing that, a full refund.
But paying thousands does not guarantee the ticket will be accepted at the theater.
“Our priority is to protect all our customers and are doing all we can do combat this issue”.
They say any ticket not bought on official ticketing platforms will be considered void and ticket holders may be Azka-banned from going in to watch the play.
“From the outset accessible pricing has been of paramount importance to us”.
A further 250,000 tickets went on sale on 4 August and sold out on the day.
“We have already been able to identify, and refuse entry to a significant number of people who purchased tickets through resale sites and will continue to track down touts”.
A quick search on StubHub reveals that there are nearly 450 tickets on sale – both in pairs or individually.
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The play, written by Jack Thorne, is shown in two parts and stars Jamie Parker as Harry Potter and Poppy Miller as Ginny.
