Viagogo ordered to provide details of people who re-sold rugby tickets

Online ticket company Viagogo has been ordered by the court to hand over the details of people who sold on tickets to England rugby matches through its site.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) argued that by selling tickets at more than their face value, people had breached its terms and conditions and because of this admission constituted trespass.

At the High Court Justice Tugendhat upheld this argument. Although Viagogo, which charges a transaction fee, argued that the RFU could obtain the information by itself; for example by contacting individuals and groups on its own database, or by conducting test purchases on Viagogo's website, the judge ruled the cost of this was prohibitive.

He has now ordered Viagogo to supply the RFU not only with the names, addresses and credit card information of these people but also release the price and stadium location of tickets.

At present, buying and selling second-hand tickets is not illegal in England and Wales, except for events such as football matches, because of crowd control, and the 2012 Olympic Games. But rugby matches are not included.

The issue of a blanket ban on reselling tickets for other high-profile events was investigated by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport in 2008 but ruled out.

The then Culture Secretary Andy Burnham did get voluntary commitments from sites such as Ebay and the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (Star) about the sale of tickets for things such as charity events.

However, because fans sold the tickets above face value, which breached the RFU's terms and conditions, it was able to prove trespass.

The RFU will now get information and seek redress from people who advertised and/or sold tickets on Viagogo for England's recent Six Nations home matches.

There were against Italy, France and Scotland or the 2010 autumn international fixtures at Twickenham.