Palace warning to ticket touts

People who have paid touts up to £2,500 for tickets to two concerts in the grounds of Buckingham Palace have been warned that they have no chance of being allowed into the Golden Jubilee events.

Ticket touts in Leicester Square are being investigated by trading standards authorities and the police after attempts to sell tickets to the Prom at the Palace on Saturday and Party at the Palace on Monday came to light.

Only 12,000 tickets have been allocated for each star-studded concert and they were given away free after more than two million people applied to see the shows.

The two performances on the lawns behind Buckingham Palace feature stars from opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kawana, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu to rock royalty Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Rod Stewart.

But ticket touts are believed to have submitted multiple applications in an attempt to secure tickets and may also have bought them from the public who were successful in gaining seats at the shows. Today Buckingham Palace repeated a warning that holders of touted tickets would not get into the concerts.

Each ticket carries the name of the person it is allocated to as well as a unique barcode, meaning it cannot be forged.

Holders will be asked to produce two forms of identification when they arrive for each of the concerts, which must match the name on the ticket.

A spokesman for Buckingham Palace said: "We have security measures in place which mean only the person issued with the ticket will be allowed access. Anyone holding another person's ticket will not get in." Westminster City Council's trading standards department has launched an investigation and has warned anyone who bought the tickets that they have been ripped off.

Michael Hainge, head of trading standards, said the department plans to report touts to the Crown Prosecution Service for breaching the Trade Descriptions Act. If convicted, they could face up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.

"It is very disappointing and it is a sad reflection that there are elements of the public who just pay whatever it takes to gain what they want," said Mr Hainge.

"It is vey un-British."

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