In a bid to achieve its objective of promoting sport, the RFU sells tickets to matches at Twickenham Stadium (“Stadium”) at a price that enables it to cover its costs but which is affordable to the general public. However, as the demand for tickets often outstrips supply, the price the RFU charges for tickets could be significantly higher. Ticket touts will use this to their advantage by selling tickets on at inflated prices. In an effort to prevent this, the RFU has attempted to restrict onward sales that are greater than the face value of the ticket.
When purchasing a ticket you are buying a licence which permits you to enter the Stadium, on a particular day at a specified time (“Licence”). The Licence is be governed by terms and conditions set by the RFU. When the ticket is sold on, the Licence passes to the buyer and the terms and conditions apply as if the ticket had been bought directly from the RFU or an authorised reseller.
The RFU has successfully argued that the Licence expires automatically when the ticket is sold on for a higher than face value price.
If the ticket if sold on for a sum that is greater than the face value of a ticket the RFU terms and conditions specify that the Licence will expire automatically. This means that if you buy a ticket for more than its face value, the Licence will automatically terminate and you will no longer be permitted to enter the Stadium. Consequently, if you subsequently enter the Stadium with your ticket you will in fact be trespassing.
The physical ticket is simply a tangible symbol that demonstrates that you have the right to benefit from the Licence. However whilst the Licence can expire automatically it is not yet possible to get the ticket to expire accordingly! As such you may have a ticket that appears to be valid but actually isn’t, although you won’t be able to tell from the ticket appearance.
This causes the RFU great difficulty in policing admissions to the Stadium as it cannot know which tickets are valid and which are not at the point of presentation of a ticket.
As many tickets are advertised for onward sale through internet sites that store the details of the sellers, the RFU sought an order from the court to force one such site, Viagogo, to supply the details of those selling tickets via their website to the RFU. The RFU was successful.
Once the information is received, the RFU will be free to decide whether to take action against those selling tickets in contravention to its terms and conditions.
Written by Shelley Marshall, a Solicitor in Nelsons' Commerce and Technology group.
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