Paul Barber - ID checks of fans at away games?

[Peter Grummit]

I might be thinking of a scenario that doesnt happen to everyone but...........
me and chums tend to rotate whose turn it is to buy tickets for away games.There may be up to 10 of us on a good day. All these tickets arrive in one big bundle and just get handed out. The chances of all of us walking up to the turnstile at the same time are minimal ( different taxis,stay in pub extra 15 minutes,getting food,lost through drunkenness,go for a bet). Cant say ive ever noticed a list accompanying the tickets as to which ticket number or seat is assigned to which supporter (if there is i need to look harder in the future)......how would singling out one supporter for ID even be practical in this situation.

The comp slip/receipt that away tickets come with lists the seat number against the 'owner'.

I thought similar to you, in practice nobody hands out tickets with reference to that receipt.

PG

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I've received an email from Paul Barber, (I don't know if other fans have received similar) and he has kindly agreed for it to be shown in the public domain, so here it is in full.

The email from Mr Barber mentions that checks will be made where there are concerns. The club statement mentioned random spot checks. These are inconsistent statements and need clarification by the club.
To provide some context I very rarely criticise anything done by the club but I do not agree with a system of random ID checking at away grounds. It is not acceptable.

 

[atomised]

Allocations are a lot smaller than cup games. Most will be 3000 or less. I reckon we'd sell out most of them. Don't forget Premier League away tickets are cheaper than Championship. Less midweek games too.

According to this none need to allocate more than 3000. Many substantially less and any expecting huge allocations at the Emirates or Old Trafford will be in for disappointment

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.ga...ed-away-allocations-boro-receive-11412272.amp

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I might be thinking of a scenario that doesnt happen to everyone but...........
me and chums tend to rotate whose turn it is to buy tickets for away games.There may be up to 10 of us on a good day. All these tickets arrive in one big bundle and just get handed out. The chances of all of us walking up to the turnstile at the same time are minimal ( different taxis,stay in pub extra 15 minutes,getting food,lost through drunkenness,go for a bet). Cant say ive ever noticed a list accompanying the tickets as to which ticket number or seat is assigned to which supporter (if there is i need to look harder in the future)......how would singling out one supporter for ID even be practical in this situation.

If you did get asked for ID and your story added up I'd hope/expect you'd be okay.

 

[Bozza]

I might be thinking of a scenario that doesnt happen to everyone but...........
me and chums tend to rotate whose turn it is to buy tickets for away games.There may be up to 10 of us on a good day. All these tickets arrive in one big bundle and just get handed out. The chances of all of us walking up to the turnstile at the same time are minimal ( different taxis,stay in pub extra 15 minutes,getting food,lost through drunkenness,go for a bet). Cant say ive ever noticed a list accompanying the tickets as to which ticket number or seat is assigned to which supporter (if there is i need to look harder in the future)......how would singling out one supporter for ID even be practical in this situation.

These spot checks can only work if the checkers have access to the Albion ticket sales system. Having that, the checker would quickly see that you were one of 10 F&F names that bought a batch of tickets together and you'd be fine.

 

[BN9 BHA]

The law does not permit anyone to sell or give a football ticket to anyone else at all, as detailed in various bits of:

The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006
The Ticket Touting (Designation of Football Matches) Order 2007

Now, the spirit of the law is such that giving a ticket to a family member or friend is very unlikely to get you into any kind of grief, but you will still have broken the law.

Genuine question, why is there a Home/ Away tickets wanted section on NSC if selling tickets is illegal?
I've never bought or sold one on there but others must use it.

 

[El Presidente]

If you did get asked for ID and your story added up I'd hope/expect you'd be okay.

The BURNING question is...Would it happen in Germany?

 

[Hampster Gull]

I've received an email from Paul Barber, (I don't know if other fans have received similar) and he has kindly agreed for it to be shown in the public domain, so here it is in full.

The original statement is clear
"the club will begin random spot checks at away matches, to ensure tickets are being used by the named member. Supporters will be expected to be able to identify themselves"

The latest is
"If the club has any concern about how any supporter has secured a ticket to a match, we reserve the right to check"

The latter is not random spot checks, its checks where there are concerns. They are very different. What is the policy? Reserve the right to do whatever they want it seems.

The club should keep out of the way unless there are issues at the match, and as he says, they already do this

 

[Bozza]

Genuine question, why is there a Home/ Away tickets wanted section on NSC if selling tickets is illegal?
I've never bought or sold one on there but others must use it.

There is not a 'for sale' section because it's not legal.

There is a 'wanted' section so that those who want a ticket can request one. They should ensure that if a ticket is offered, that it is covered by a Private Seat License and, as such, can be transferred. That's down to them though.

 

[sparkie]

Probably because people on FB etc have been posting..... Does anyone have enough points to get a ticket for xxx match and is not planning on going?.....

I have seen that this season! Someone must have either seen it or complained!

That's a facepalm level of subtlety so no wonder the club is taking action if people have seen it and complained.


Guess they will look at the mugshots of those exchanging tickets like that and target them 'randomly'.

 

[BN9 BHA]

There is not a 'for sale' section because it's not legal.

There is a 'wanted' section so that those who want a ticket can request one. They should ensure that if a ticket is offered, that it is covered by a Private Seat License and, as such, can be transferred. That's down to them though.

Many thanks.

 

[Roadrunner]

These spot checks can only work if the checkers have access to the Albion ticket sales system. Having that, the checker would quickly see that you were one of 10 F&F names that bought a batch of tickets together and you'd be fine.

I regularly buy up to 20 tickets for people on my F&F list and dish them out at the home game before any given away trip. If one of those 20 then passes their ticket on without my knowledge (for whatever reason), and the new ticket holder is challenged and fails to provide one of the 20 IDs from the original list, then who gets the blame? The implication is that that I will be held accountable for each of those 20 tickets as well as the individual who has passed their ticket on. How would they even be able to work out which of the 20 tickets this unidentified person was using, without tracking down the remaining 19 at the same time?

I understand what the club are trying to do, but the whole thing is poorly thought out. You either have to go the whole hog, as is the case with England away games where we have to pick up the ticket in person close to the venue, or you just accept that a tiny faction of people might occasionally flaunt the system. I'd prefer the latter, even if it means that a handful of unlucky people do miss out. A good friend of mine is an Arsenal away season ticket holder and he regularly sells his ticket onto mates who wouldn't otherwise have enough loyalty points to get a ticket. It seems to me that, even at the highest level, these things are accepted as less than ideal but unavoidable.

 

[El Presidente]

As you are probably aware, there has been substantial correspondence between Mod Towers and PB about this issue over the last few hours.

Unfortunately, during that correspondence, [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] let slip that he sold me a spare ticket for Brentford away last month, and the attached photograph shows myself, PB and Bozza when the incident was discovered by the club.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

There is not a 'for sale' section because it's not legal.

There is a 'wanted' section so that those who want a ticket can request one. They should ensure that if a ticket is offered, that it is covered by a Private Seat License and, as such, can be transferred. That's down to them though.

Just playing Devil's Advocate; are you 100 % sure that you are covered ? It could be argued that a policy of 'see no evil, hear no evil' when providing a platform where illegality can take place is tacit encouragement of the practice. I have never given it a moments thought before (and never used it) but such matters seem to be high on the list of club concerns at the
moment.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

I haven't read the whole thread, but this seems to be a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

I would however say the demographic of our fans was very, very different last night, when compared to Saturday.

Has this been instigated by the club or the police?

 

[chaileyjem]

Has this been instigated by the club or the police?

By complaints from fans. Presumably fans who go to away games a lot.

 

[The Andy Naylor Fan Club]

As you are probably aware, there has been substantial correspondence between Mod Towers and PB about this issue over the last few hours.

Unfortunately, during that correspondence, [MENTION=6886]Bozza[/MENTION] let slip that he sold me a spare ticket for Brentford away last month, and the attached photograph shows myself, PB and Bozza when the incident was discovered by the club.

View attachment 82710

"What? With these feet?"

 

[Creaky]

No, the club aren't saying that. It's ok for the occasional game, and the people using that ticket are known so not likely to cause problems.

From what I understand, it's if someone wasn't able to go for a season (say away for a gap year) and that season ticket was passed to an uncle or cousin for that year, then it's unfair on those on the waiting list.

I have suffered from serious heart problems this year and as such have only managed to attend one home game so far this season. My brother who has a season ticket for the seat adjacent to mine asked if he could use it to take his wife - I had no problem with that but apparently that is not now acceptable.

I have no intention of cancelling my season ticket so I guess my seat will remain empty - makes no difference to me and I have renewed as normal for next season in the hope that I will recover enough to attend regularly again. Just seems strange that the club prefers that my seat is empty.

How long before season ticket holders have to attend x number of games each season in order to retain the right to renew?

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I have suffered from serious heart problems this year and as such have only managed to attend one home game so far this season. My brother who has a season ticket for the seat adjacent to mine asked if he could use it to take his wife - I had no problem with that but apparently that is not now acceptable.

I have no intention of cancelling my season ticket so I guess my seat will remain empty - makes no difference to me and I have renewed as normal for next season in the hope that I will recover enough to attend regularly again. Just seems strange that the club prefers that my seat is empty.

How long before season ticket holders have to attend x number of games each season in order to retain the right to renew?

Yours is a very good example of the unintended consequences of this new policy. I think it absurd that the club could consider preventing your sister in law attending with her husband whilst you recover from illness.

 

[pastafarian]

The comp slip/receipt that away tickets come with lists the seat number against the 'owner'.

I thought similar to you, in practice nobody hands out tickets with reference to that receipt.

PG

more fool me for never actually reading the comp slip
i always just thought is was some sort of sales receipt.