Earlier this year, we acknowledged the ongoing impact ticketing touting has been having on our matchdays with a number of individuals and organisations claiming to have the ability to sell official Brentford tickets.
This issue, and the related problem of away fans in home areas, continues to be taken seriously by the club.
It also features heavily in our discussions with Bees United and BIAS representatives in our fan advisory board and working group meetings.
Updates from recent fixtures
When Brentford faced Liverpool at the Gtech in February this year, we blocked or ejected more than 120 individuals in advance of the game who we either believed purchased tickets from unauthorised sources or were supporting Liverpool in the home area.
The majority of these individuals never made it into the stadium having been stopped or blocked before getting to the turnstiles.
Across our recent fixtures against Manchester United, Brighton and Sheffield United, our operations led to hundreds of individuals either being ejected, refused entry or blocked due to ticket touting which resulted in more than 300 individuals being sanctioned with stadium bans issued and memberships revoked.
How we are tackling ticket touting
We will continue to ensure that there are severe repercussions for anyone who buys or sells tickets through unauthorised channels.
Ticket touting breaches our acceptable behaviour policy and those engaging in it will face lengthy match bans.
Our box office and stewarding teams are also working hard to identify ticket touting operations to proactively stop unfair ticket distribution with ongoing measures. These include:
Monitoring unauthorised reseller websites and capturing necessary information from advertised tickets to identify these on our ticketing system
Policing any suspicious booking or sales behaviour, including taking action against those who have purchased tickets with the incorrect tariffs
Reviewing actual attendance records at games of any individuals in question
Gathering information from fans who have been the victim of touted tickets to identify sellers
Reviewing collection processes and carrying out ID checks to ensure genuine Brentford fans are obtaining tickets
Post fixture reviews with sanctions being applied accordingly
A review of our sales process in conjunction with our fan groups before the beginning of the next season will also take place.
Helping our process
Brentford tickets should not be bought from any unauthorised ticketing platforms. Doing so runs the risk of that ticket being blocked and you will not get into the stadium. You may lose out financially with little scope of being recompensed.
Fans are reminded that if they cannot attend a home league game they should list their season ticket or premium seat on the club’s ticket exchange, giving members the opportunity to purchase them online.
We encourage you to inform us if you have been offered tickets or have any information in relation to tickets being offered outside of the stadium. Please report it to the nearest steward or email [email protected]. All information is treated in the strictest confidence and is never disclosed to third parties. Please aim to do this as soon as you have this information so we can deal with ticket touts quickly and effectively.
We thank you for your continued support in ensuring Brentford home tickets are purchased and sold fairly to Bees fans only.