Cowley music venue The Bullingdon have decided to match IDs against the names on event tickets to prevent ‘ticket touts’ reselling them for profit.
Those who are caught re-selling tickets will be banned from the venue permanently.
The Bullingdon said in a statement: “Ticket touts are ruining music for the people who love it.
“The sellers often do not sell all the tickets that they have purchased this means that music lovers are being prevented from getting their hands on a ticket in the first place.”
The Bullingdon have also said that they will make midnight the last guaranteed entry for ticket holders.
After this time, they will sell up to capacity and operate a ‘one in one out policy’ for “those people who stand in the cold and rain for the music.”
Paul Williams, the general manager of the Bullingdon, told Cherwell: “I would like to add that this is not to prevent resales. As we know this happens where you want to go to an event, buy a ticket, then cannot go.
“Platforms such as OxTickets are great for this. What we are doing is purely to stop people buying up tickets then reselling at extortionate prices or sell the same ticket multiple
times. It becomes safe and fair.
“We are not here to stop real fans coming to shows or make it difficult for anyone except the touts.”
Students have expressed their concern at being unable to re-sell tickets if they find that they can’t make an event.
One music lover said: “It’s understandable why the Bully is doing what it is doing but it seems very punitive to suddenly de-legitimise certain platforms.”
Al Wakelin, the Somerville College student who founded Oxtickets, said: “Oxtickets’ only response to the statement by [the] Bullingdon is to encourage people to send their tickets to each other through the official means and to keep prices fair.
“This group was created, first and foremost, to give students and party-goers without tickets a chance to find one. This group was not created to encourage organised ticket touts.”
The Bullingdon have said that if fans are unable to change the name on their ticket, they can contact [email protected] and make an emergency arrangement.
