con woman faces jail for selling fake Glastonbury Festival tickets

A con woman who sold fake Glastonbury Festival tickets to scores of music fans may be facing prison according a news story in the East Grinstead Courier (here), and serves as a timely reminder of the risks of buying Festival tickets from other sources.

Christine Babb, 34, of Farm Close East Grinstead, raked in over £23,000 by offering tickets for popular sold out events like Glastonbury her scams became known to the Festival who last May issued a warning (here).

"We would very much like you to be aware that there are people out there who will try and sell fake Glastonbury tickets to unsuspecting, willing and innocent potential purchasers.

Photos on tickets, which we introduced ten years ago, should eliminate this to a very large extent. If you are offered a ticket it is unlikely to give you access to the Festival. The BBC will be covering even more of the Festival this year so please be content with the TV for now. Hopefully there will be many more years ahead when your chances of buying a ticket will increase. Thank you for supporting our Festival.

Michael Eavis NB: Nobody called Christine Babb is either employed by Glastonbury Festival or has any tickets to sell for the Festival. PLEASE remember that you can only buy Glastonbury tickets through official sources and that this year’s Festival is entirely Sold Out.

If you suspect someone is selling a Glastonbury ticket fraudulently, please contact ticketing@glastonburyfestivals.co.uk or report to Action Fraud: Website / Tel: 0300 123 2040"

Babb's campaign of fraud lasted nearly a year, between August 2013 and July last year. At Hammersmith Magistrates Court yesterday she admitted 29 offences of fraud by false representation.

The Courier quotes Prosecutor Tom Gill as saying, "This defendant told her victims that she worked in the music industry and could get discounted tickets to various events including Glastonbury Festival.

"There are 29 victims of this offence who paid for their tickets that they didn't receive. The Crown say that your sentencing powers are not sufficient."

The District Judge Jeremy Coleman declined jurisdiction and has passed the case to the crown court where they will decide the punishment for her admission including facing a custodial sentence.

It's a timely reminder ahead of the resale windows why organisers bought in photographs on tickets to stop touting and fake ticket sales.Please comply with the ticket system in place as it is for everyone's benefit.

Do not purchase tickets from unofficial or secondary ticket outlets or auction sites as they often are unable to supply the tickets, and might not even give you a refund - there's lots of dodgy operators like Christine Babb out there!

The resale of returned coach packages will take place at 6pm tonight, Thursday 16th April, for Glastonbury Festival ahead of a limited number of cancelled/refunded general admission tickets going on sale on Sunday.

In order to purchase these cancelled/refunded tickets in the resale ticket buyers,  aged 13 or over (when the Festival starts), must have been registered beforehand to be eligible to buy a ticket. Registration is now closed.

The coach package sale is limited to 2 tickets per transaction, to reflect the limited number of seats available per coach. Ticket purchasers will need their unique registration number for each ticket being booked.

Tickets are priced at £220 plus e-Ticket delivery is £1.50 per order. A list of coach prices can be found here (the price of the Festival ticket is not included).

buy tickets from 6pm here >

Tickets bought in the resale must be paid for in full by debit card. Coach package purchasers will only be sent their coach tickets in advance – the Festival entry tickets will be handed out on the coach. Travel on your chosen coach is mandatory. Please do not book a coach package unless you are certain you will be able to travel on the coach you have selected.

A resale of General Admission Tickets, will take place from 9am on Sunday, 19th April. For general admission it will be a maximum of 4 tickets per transaction.

These tickets can be refunded up until 8th May, and cancellation protection is available at the point of purchase.

The only acts confirmed so far are Friday headliner Foo Fighters, and Saturday headliner Kanye West, with Father John Misty, Courtney Barnett, and Lionel Richie in the teatime legends slot. Plus Patti Smith & her band, Florence + The Machine, Pharrell Williams, Alt-J, Motorhead, Mary J Blige, Alabama Shakes, Paloma Faith, The Waterboys, The Fall, George Ezra, Rudimental, Deadmau5, The Vaccines, The Maccabees, Suede, The Chemical Brothers (live), Belle & Sebastian, Clean Bandit, Jungle, Jamie XX, Gregory Porter, Super Furry Animals, Jon Hopkins, Sharon Van Etten, Kate Tempest, Wolf Alice, Perfume Genius, Fat White Family, La Roux, Death Cab For Cutie, Kasai Allstars, FFS (Franz Ferdinand & Sparks), Modestep, Circa Waves, Peace, Young Fathers, The Moody Blues, Chronixx, Mavis Staples, FKA Twigs, Caribou, Goat, Future Islands, Run the Jewels, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus, Azealia Banks, Todd Terje, Ryan Adams, Spiritualized, Roy Ayers, The Mothership Returns: George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelic & The Family Stone, Jamie T, Ben Howard, Mark Ronson, Ibeyi, Rae Morris, Enter Shikari, Lianne La Havas, Jessie Ware, Death From Above 1979, Years And Years, Sleaford Mods, Charli XCX, The Pop Group, Catfish & The Bottlemen, Ella Eyre, Hozier, and the entrants for the Emerging Talent competition Declan McKenna, Shields, K.O.G & the Zongo Brigade, MoD, Princess Slayer, Lucy Kitchen, Isaac Lee-Kronick, and Jakl.

This year's sold out Glastonbury Festival runs for five full days from Wednesday 24th until Sunday 28th June 2015 across over a 1,000 acres of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Pilton in Somerset.

Tickets are priced at £220 + £5 booking fee per ticket + postage per booking with up to a maximum of 6 tickets able to be booked at once.

As ever, entry includes a free programme. Once again, the Festival will be raising more than £2 million in funds for Oxfam, Wateraid, Greenpeace and and hundreds of other worthy causes, both local and international.

The full complete line-up will not be announced until next month. Expect something like 2,000 performances at over 100 venues including music, cabaret, theatre, circus, a fantastic Kidz area, poetry, green crafts and information, site art, decor, and loads, loads more ... much more than just the music, so make sure you check it all out!

As usual eFestivals will bring you the very best-sourced rumours, allowing festival-goers to see who is playing long before the bands are formally announced - keep your eyes on the Glastonbury 2015 rumours, updated as we receive information.

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