Wimbledon 2016: Touts hike prices for ‘People’s Sunday’ to eight times original value

Queues: Tennis fans lucky enough to snap up tickets await entry to the grounds of the All England Club this morning
PA
Sebastian Mann3 July 2016

Tickets for a rare chance to see play at Wimbledon today were touted online at eight times face value after selling out in just 27 minutes, it has emerged.

Ticket-sellers took advantage of major demand for the first middle Sunday in 12 years, scheduled in by the All England Club after rain disrupted play for much of the first week.

About 22,000 tickets were released officially on the Ticketmaster website on Friday but went within minutes as more than 100,000 users raced to get their hands on ground passes.

Tennis fans reported waiting in the online queue for hours and many missed out.

Not long after selling out, batches of tickets at inflated prices were spotted on other online marketplaces.

One seller on Gumtree was offering a Sunday grounds pass for £160 – eight times the official price of £20.

A spokesman for the All England Club said touting tickets was a breach of the guidelines and was “not in the spirit” of the event.

He told the Sunday Times: “We have measures in place at the gates to detect whether someone is attempting to enter with a ticket which hasn’t been bought in their name and if necessary will refuse admittance.”

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