Ticket tout buying tickets in parents’ names to bypass purchase limit

According to the Daily Record, a ticket tout is bypassing the limits on ticket purchase quantities in the primary ticketing sites: he is simply using multiple addresses and credit cards under various names, including those of his own family.

Andrew Newman (that's his name) uses various iterations of his own name, plus those of staff members, his brother and his parents, in order to buy up tickets to sell on the secondary market at inflated prices. Newman was one of the touts named in the government’s Waterson Report on the secondary market as potentially abusing the system. He was also confronted by Bay City Rollers bassist Alan Longmuir last year, who accused him of being “a parasite”.

An unnamed source told The Record:

We see the same names again and again. Newman’s name pops up with and without a middle initial and his mother and father appear to make masses of purchases along with his brother. For some shows, they scooped hundreds of tickets, which is a disgrace on Ticketmaster’s part, as they should be cancelling such glaring breaches of their terms and conditions. Newman’s staff also pop up, like David Brown and Grant Urie, siphoning off six tickets here and four there, again and again. It’s blatant. Within hours, the same tickets would be advertised on secondary sites at inflated rates. They are basically shutting down the opportunity for fans who can only afford to pay, say £50 per ticket. What we are seeing is either Newman exploiting his family and friends or they are in on the act.

Of course, it’s no secret that many touts utilise multiples names and credit cards to buy large quantities of tickets as they go on sale...