Reading Festival Ticket Tout Prosecuted

AN ILLEGAL ticket tout operating during last year’s Reading Festival has been hit with a financial penalty of over £1,000.

Mr Leonard Ernest Scott, of St Asaph in Wales, was found guilty in absence at Reading Magistrates’ Court on 9th March 2018 of ticket touting during the festival. Council officers spotted Mr Scott touting Reading Festival Tickets outside the Gorge Café at the junction of Caversham Road and Richfield Avenue on 27th August 2017. Mr Scott was issued a fixed penalty notice of £75. He failed to pay the penalty and the matter was referred to Reading Magistrates’ Court. In court he was fined £660, ordered to pay a victim’s surcharge of £66 and legal costs of £465 - a total of £1,191. Ticket touting is illegal. Illegal tickets sales can cheat the public and in many cases the tickets sold are stolen or counterfeit. Touts may also try to sell counterfeit wristbands which festival security staff are trained to spot and will refuse entry to the festival site to anyone wearing one.

Cllr Sarah Hacker, Reading Council’s Lead Member for Consumer Services, said:

“We have a duty to protect the visitors to Reading Festival and cannot allow them to be targeted by unscrupulous individuals like this. This successful prosecution will hopefully send out the message to potential touts that this activity will not be tolerated. “In anticipation of this year’s festival, we are reminding music fans that they should not risk buying Reading Festival tickets from anywhere other than authorised sellers.”

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