ALMOST half a million event tickets will be bought on the black market in the North-East this year, according to new research.
Ticket touts will take more than £2.3m in this region, the 428,600 tickets being sold via a variety of methods, including the Internet and e-mail.
The survey puts the North-East as the second worst region, with 28 per cent of people likely to purchase a ticket from an illegal source.
This compares to 20 per cent in the South-East and East Anglia and 16 per cent in Scotland. Only the Midlands, with 29 per cent, is worse.
The survey reveals that in the past five years, 11.2 million British adults have bought black market tickets. Group 4 Securicor, which commissioned the research, believes the findings highlight a problem for event organisers.
Spokesman Douglas Greenwell said: "Event organisers in the North-East cannot afford to ignore the problems associated with the unauthorised resale of tickets for public events.
"Employing specific security solutions to combat the problem of black market tickets can help event organisers protect against touts."
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