Revellers at a previous Commemoration Ball
Worcester’s upcoming Commemoration Ball, an event once dubbed as “Times social event of the year”, has been mired in controversy over ticket touting.
The Ball, to be held on 20 June, promises on its website to provide “a thousand excesses” and has aroused particularly fierce competition for entry. Users on the internet forum ‘The Student Room’ have been offering non-dining tickets for up to £500 in response to one ticket-seeker’s claim that they would “pay almost anything” to gain entry to the Ball.
Tickets for the ball were only available to Worcester students as the event was completely sold out by the time ticket sales were opened up to the rest of the University, the Ball committee confirmed.
Students were able to purchase a maximum of four tickets each, but due to the high demand, a clear gap in the market has opened for people who want to sell on their tickets for a marked up price.
Ball President, Nick Waddell, said that the committee in “no way condone ticket touting”.
He said, “We have been happy to transfer tickets into another name for people who have had cancellations, but obviously we have had to take people’s word in these few cases that it is just name transfer.
“We do not condone this ticket touting and anyone who buys a second hand ticket does run the risk of being caught without correct, corresponding ID at the door,” he said.
He added that the Committee had been “unaware that large amounts of money might be changing hands for ball tickets.”
He did however add that given the popularity of the ball, it had been suspected.
He said, “If students had bought tickets specifically to sell on, then this is not really fair on the people who missed out first time round and now can’t get hold of a ticket at a reasonable price.”
One Worcester undergraduate who was selling his ticket, bought for £160, at the increased price of £320, defended his decision.
He said, “I know £320 is steep, but the tickets are like gold dust and have sold for far more.” He later offered a reduced price of £300.
A second year from Merton described her experience of the ticket touting. She said, “I tried to buy a ticket that someone needed to sell, but they were basically getting people to bid for it, and since I wasn’t willing to go over £140 (15 [pounds] more than the face value), I didn’t get it.”
Wadstock
Another Oxford social event, Wadham’s music festival, “Wadstock” has also been hit by allegations of ticket touting.
One student at Merton has explained how high demand for Wadham’s ‘Wadstock’ event seemed to encourage touting from the moment tickets went on sale. She commented, “I queued up for a guest ticket for Wadstock on Monday evening, and bought three (for myself, my boyfriend and a friend who is visiting for the weekend).
“However, there was no limit on how many you can buy, so people all around me were buying seven or eight and saying things like ‘I’ll definitely be able to find someone to sell it to if so-and-so can’t make it.’”
She added that almost everyone in the queue bought seven or eight tickets, meaning that they sold out in about an hour, “rather than the several days organisers seemed to be planning on.”
