Glastonbury tickets sell out
Sunday, 01 Apr 2007 19:51
Music fans can't wait for this year's Glastonbury festival
Tickets for this year's Glastonbury festival have sold out in two hours after new rules were introduced in an effort to beat ticket touts.
A total of 137,500 tickets were sold – more than in previous years - with total capacity for the festival expected to top 177,000 when support staff and traders are included.
However, only the 400,000 hopefuls who had previously registered their details with the festival organisers were eligible to buy the £145 tickets.
The registration system is a new feature introduced this year in order to make the illegal trading of tickets more difficult.
Prospective festival-goers were required to submit a passport photo along with their details, which will be included on their ticket to prevent others from being able to use it.
In previous years, tickets have sold out within hours of going on sale due to overwhelming demand, only to appear on auction websites priced at several times their face value.
Commenting on the scheme, Michael Eavis, the festival's organiser, said that he welcomed fans' acceptance of the new rules.
"We can only applaud Glastonbury fans everywhere for helping us launch this very necessary registration initiative," he said.
"Our stated aim has always been to combat the ticket touting and to make the ticket buying system as fair as possible."
However, many fans found it difficult to access the ticket site due to the high demand.
"Despite constant refreshing, redialling and as many possible tricks as we could come up with we've got nowhere," said one hopeful.
"I'm beginning to think it's an April fool's joke and they actually go on sale tomorrow."
This year's festival, which runs from June 22nd to 24th, will feature Arctic Monkeys, Arcade Fire and The Who among others.