Charity takes stand against overpriced ticketing sites

Tickets for their concert at the Royal Albert Hall in March, headlined by Ed Sheeran and specifically organised to raise money for the charity, are normally priced at £75 each - but they were recently spotted on ticket reselling website Viagogo.com for prices up to £7,650 each.

A campaign group stated that Viagogo.com were 'profiteering at the expense of teenage cancer sufferers' by explaining to potential buyers how the security measures on the charity's website could be circumvented. None of the money spent on the Viagogo.com website will reach the charity.

In a statement on its website, the Teenage Cancer Trust expressed concerns about reselling sites profiting from its charitable event - "We firmly believe the only people who should profit from Teenage Cancer Trust at the Royal Albert Hall are young people with cancer," the statement said.

The charity also said it would be introducing additional measures to tackle these types of websites, such as limiting the number of tickets any one person can purchase. It also highlighted that ticket bookers will need to give their full name and must attend the event for any of the tickets to be valid.

"ID will be rigorously checked and anyone with tickets purchased on the secondary market will not be admitted," the charity statement continued.

Viagago has reassured potential buyers that they will be accompanied to the venue by the seller, allowing them to gain access to the gig despite the ID requirement.

In its statement, the Teenage Cancer Trust urged people to contact their MPs about unfair ticket touting practices and said it actively supported the Fanfair Alliance, which campaigns against ticket touting.