“Gross discourtesy”, Viagogo pulls out of UK ticket resale hearing at eleventh hour

Viagogo pulled out of yesterday’s secondary ticketing hearing in London by the UK’s parliament’s digital, culture, media and sports (DCMS) committee for a second time.

This time claiming that its legal evidence might be used against it in an upcoming court case.

The resale ticketing platform released an open letter to DCMS chair, MP Damian Collins, dated September 5, announcing it would not be appearing.

It said its lawyers had advice participating in the hearing would “jeopardize [Viagogo’s] position with respect to the ongoing legal proceedings which the [Competition and Markets Authority] CMA has initiated against us.”

The letter said that it had asked the CMA for assurances that anything it said at the parliamentary hearing would not be used in court.

“The CMA categorically rejected this request,” reported Viagogo’s operations manager Prabhat Shah.

“Indeed, it went further and asserted a positive entitlement to rely on our client’s evidence at the DMCS hearing in the litigation.”

He added, “This is in direct contradiction to the guidance on parliamentary privilege given in the House of Commons.”

Viagogo said it was “sincerely disappointed” its head of business development and sales, Cristopher Miller could not attend and that it would submit written evidence instead.

The explanation was rejected by Damian Collins who commented it was “hard not to view this eleventh-hour withdrawal cynically.”

He called Viagogo’s non-attendance a “gross discourtesy” and slammed the Swiss-based reseller as “not a reputable company” especially since it had failed to attend last year.

He asserted Viagogo had “no valid reason not to attend and answer our questions on secondary ticketing” because the committee’s questions would have taken care not to touch on issues connected with the CMA case.

Viagogo’s actions, he suggested, were “part of a pattern of evasion on their behalf”.

“I think it’s disrespectful to the house,” he said. “I think it’s even more disrespectful to the customers, who have been the victims of Viagogo over so many years, that they will not come and answer questions about the way their business works.”

Representatives from Ticketmaster and StubHub both attended to answer MPs’ questions.

Kilimanjaro Live MD Stuart Galbraith told the hearing he “wholeheartedly welcomed” Ticketmaster’s move to close its secondary ticketing sites, Seatwave and Get Me In!

He said these had shown a willingness to work to address the concerns of the live music sector.

“They’re reacting to public pressure, campaigns and now legislation that’s being enacted.

“We’re starting to clear up the acne that has blighted our industry and I think we’re coming to the point where we’ve just got one major boil left to lance… Viagogo.”

As TMN reported this week, Galbraith is said to be sued for fraud by Viagogo over actions during Ed Sheeran’s 2017 UK tour when 10,000 tickets through Viagogo were rendered void and fans forced to buy new tickets.

Galbraith denied the accusations.