In her capacity as Co-Chair of the APPG on Ticket Abuse, Sharon organised a cross-party group of MPs and Peers led by along with Nigel Adams MP, Chair of the Music APPG, and were joined with famous faces, such as Imogen Heap, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child producer Sonia Friedman, and Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six!. The photo call called on the Government to accept the “Ban the Bots” amendment during Report Stage of the Digital Economy Bill on the 28.11.16.

The photo call took place outside of Parliament, where MPs and Peers backed an amendment drafted by Nigel Adams MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music, and tabled on a cross-party basis by the entire Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, and supported by Sharon Hodgson MP, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse, and Tom Watson, Labour’s Culture Secretary and Labour’s Shadow Culture, Media and Sport team, which would ban the use of bots to buy tickets. The Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s move follows years of campaigning by Sharon and the APPG for Ticket Abuse to consider how to tackle different aspects of a multi-faceted issue.

The photo call also linked in with the #ToutsOut campaign by Fan Fair Alliance, who have been galvanising the industry to tackle ticket touting and ensure fans are put first in the market. 

This came off the back of a Parliamentary Petition which saw more than 83,000 people call for further transparency measures in the market to help empower fans and protect them from the unscrupulous actions of touts.

Following the photo call, Sharon, said:

“It was excellent to see our cross-party campaign to take another step forward after many years of campaigning on the many issues in the ticketing industry which are locking fans out of seeing their favourite artist, sports team or theatre show. The chorus of concerns from industry, fans and Parliamentarians a like is becoming hard for the Government to ignore. It’s time the Government acted.”

(From CMA website) "The CMA is reviewing the compliance of 4 secondary ticket platforms with their undertakings and other legal obligations."

Sharon Hodgson MP's report - May-Jun 2016 - number 86

Read Sharon Hodgson MP's report - News from Westminster - May-Jun 2016 - number 86

Sharon Hodgson, Co-Chair of the APPG on Ticket Abuse welcomes recommendation for an investigation by Police and National Trading Standards into compliance of the law by the secondary ticketing market.

This week Sharon Hodgson MP met with Business, Innovation and Skills Minister Nick Boles MP, as a part of a delegation pressing the Government to do more to clamp down on ticket touting and counterfeiting in the secondary ticketing market.

Sharon pressed the Prime Minister to take the side of ordinary fans who are being ripped off by touts, rather than his new Culture Secretary who once praised touts as "classic entrepreneurs".

Sharon called a debate to discuss ticket touting and the work of the new APPG on Ticket Abuse, which she co-Chairs.