Glasto fans in 'crusade' against touts

14 April 2005

Calling themselves the 'Glastonbury Crusaders', the shrouded group is keeping tabs on internet auction sites in a bid to stop the trading of Glastonbury tickets - which have soared in demand since all 112,000 tickets sold out within hours.

Despite Glastonbury organisers going to great lengths to stop touts buying tickets and reselling them at inflated prices - including demanding photo ID on entry - a number of the passes have already been posted for sale on sites like eBay.

The 'Glastonbury Crusaders' are targetting these sales, emailing both the seller and bidders, warning them about the strict new ticket conditions and telling them they may be turned away from the festival without a refund if they do not have the correct ID.

If they receive no response they alert festival organisers about the sale. Glasto bosses confirmed that some tickets had already been cancelled as a result of the group's actions. 

It is believed the group were formed over the official Glastonbury message boards, which are hosted and powered by Virtual Festivals. Protecting the spirit of the festival has been a long-running goal for much of the online community. Click here to check out VF's message boards.

One of the crusaders, 'Woodland Maiden' from Sussex, said: "Glastonbury Festival is one of few events that donates huge amounts to charity. So many people work hard to create the essence of Glastonbury. Touts tarnish that essence and as such, must be stamped out! Until eBay
co-operates with the festival in preventing the resale of Glastonbury tickets, the Crusaders must carry on!"

Last year, Glastonbury bosses told every ticket holder that they must bring ID to prove that they were the person who bought the tickets, however it led to a number of touts supplying fake ID with the tickets they sold on. This year festival-goers will have to supply photo ID in a bid to stop that happening.

A spokesman for Glastonbury said: "What the Crusaders are doing is separate to us. They are passing information on to us, which we pass on to ticket agencies and tickets have been cancelled. We have maybe passed on 20 addresses. We are pleased that it is an initiative that has come from the public."

The sold out Glastonbury Festival 2005 takes place at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, from 24-26 June. Click here for more.  

Comments

Related Events

Related Articles