40,000 briefs snapped up for festival in record time as touts face legal threat

Thousands of tickets for this year's T In The Park festival sold out in record time yesterday ... but touts were selling them at hugely inflated prices within an hour of going on the market.

Some 40,000 passes for the three-day spectacular at Balado airfield, near Kinross, were snapped up in just 40 minutes with hundreds of fans queuing overnight in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Dundee and Gourock for sales kiosks to open at 9am.

At one point, an estimated 50,000 people were queuing online to buy from official outlet Ticketmaster.

But by 9.30am, T in the Park tickets were already for sale on eBay, some attracting bids of more than £600 for two £145 camping passes.

Geoff Ellis, chief executive of T in the Park promoters DF Concerts, was furious yesterday at the touts who are taking advantage of genuine music fans. "It's ridiculous. I'm getting utterly sick of it, to be honest," he said.

After scrolling through the scores of tickets posted on eBay, Ellis said he was "angry and fed up" of touts who he says are manipulating prices, and warned that there was no proof the sellers do in fact possess tickets.

He added: "Some of these sellers are advertising tickets at hundreds of pounds past their face value. It's just not fair on genuine fans, and I plan on continuing to press the government to introduce legislation on this issue."

Ellis said he would be instructing lawyers to ask eBay to remove posts for tickets that use the distinctive T in the Park logo. However, he admitted: "Realistically they will be sold before all the correspondence goes through."

The event in July is being headlined by The Killers, Arctic Monkeys and Snow Patrol, with Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen also scheduled to make appearances. The festival has been extended to three days for the first time - the first day of the festival, Friday, July 6, is restricted to those who have bought camping tickets.

Ellis said that he was "delighted" at how fast the tickets were snapped up. "We've never had such demand, it really is phenomenal."

Around 35,000 tickets sold-out last year without organisers even announcing which acts are performing, and Ellis hopes to be able to make another 5000 tickets available in the coming weeks.

Yesterday morning Iain Smith, Martin Stanton and Gareth Fairley, all 19 years old and from Johnstone, were at the front of the queue at Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow to buy £145 weekend camping tickets.

They had been waiting in the queue since 2am and were looking forward to their fourth T in the Park "with bells on" and were keen to see Kasabian.

The Friday event, though, has raised fears that some workers may call in sick in order to catch the Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen and Bloc Party.

CBI Scotland's assistant director, David Lonsdale, said a recent survey on absence had shown that 40% of employers recognise special events are a likely cause of staff taking time off.

"Given that it is many months until the T in the Park gig, then there is plenty of time for those wishing to attend to seek to use their holiday entitlement or benefit from any flexible working arrangements within the workplace.

"It is hugely unfair on colleagues when people who are fit enough to work do phone in sick and award themselves an extra day's leave. If anyone does this they should expect to suffer the consequences in terms of disciplinary action."