A north London pair are due to be sentenced over re selling concert tickets
The men, in their 50s and 60s, have been charged with fraud after attempting to sell thousands of tickets to an Ed Sheeran concert for £7,000, despite only paying £75 for them.
Hunter, 51, and Smith, 66, ran what they told the court was a legitimate business from their north London home, and spoke of their positive reviews and how they were a trusted source of tickets.
The total amount of tickets bought exceeded £4m and re-sold for £10.8m, a jury was told during a three-month trial at Leeds Crown Court.
They are brokers essentially, middlemen, and they have been around for hundreds of years. What they do is to ensure the goods in question, in this case tickets, end up in the hands of the people who want them most and are prepared to pay the highest price for them.
“This is in economic terms a market efficient outcome.” Said economist Stephen Davis.” Nobody is actually forced with a proverbial or metaphorical gun to their head to pay £7,000 for an Ed Sheeran ticket.”
Stuart Camp, the judge, said: “It’s purely about mark up and lining their back pockets, it’s not providing a service, it’s just hindering a decent service being made to the consumer.
“It’s always remiss to wish anyone to have their liberty taken away, but I think a sign needs to be sent out to people that this was a criminal act, not just a slap on the wrist, and I’d be happy if there was a custodial sentence.”
