Hampden gig seats sold for twice face value on Ticketmaster websites.

FANS of the rock band AC/DC have criticised one of the UK's leading agents for letting fans sell unwanted tickets for their eagerly awaited Hampden Park gig later this year at vastly inflated prices on two of its websites.

Ticketmaster, which runs a multi-million pound franchise selling tickets for theatre, sports and music events, is one of the licensed ticket sellers for the band's 43-date world tour to accompany their first album in eight years, Black Ice.

Although the band's emotional final gig at the national stadium on June 30 is almost sold out, fans are angry the firm is allowing people to sell tickets on two separate re-sale websites for double their £60 face value.

The row is the latest to affect the ticketing agency after the Royal Shakespeare Company withdrew its allocation for its sell-out production of Hamlet, starring David Tennant. It had discovered one of Ticketmaster's re-sale websites selling tickets for £600 each.

Martin Gallagher, 44, who obtained a ticket for £55 from another source, was surprised to find Ticketmaster's website allowing people he described as touts to re-sell unwanted tickets. The company strenuously denied that it forwards its allocations of tickets to Soldouteventtickets.com and getmein.com, where they cost more than £100 each.

Gallagher told the Sunday Herald: "Most of the tickets sold out within minutes and it seems the only way for fans to get them is through websites, two of which are owned by Ticketmaster."

Gallagher, a scientist from Milngavie, near Glasgow, who plans to see the band with six fellow former members of Glasgow University's rock society, said Ticketmaster's actions created the impression the firm were passing off tickets for touts to sell at "up to three times" their value.

He added: "The demand for tickets is huge as AC/DC haven't played live for eight years. People are desperate to see them and Ticketmaster is taking advantage of that. Although it's a lot of money, the sellers know that most of the fans are middle-aged and have a lot of disposable income so are willing to pay the prices, and that the band are unlikely to do another tour."

His friend, Phil Slavin, 37, a teacher from Bearsden, added: "It's the question of whether you are willing to spend £350 for a ticket from a website which is owned by Ticketmaster.

"It makes it appear like it is selling quotas, and has a certain number of tickets. I am sure it is not doing anything illegal, but it's not ethical. You have to wonder if this will stop people going to see bands and kill live music.

"The people who will not be happy will be the band playing in front of half-empty stadiums, and the real fans who could have gone."

Ticketmaster claims it has been forced into the move to give fans security after unscrupulous websites offered tickets to fans - who paid over-inflated prices - which they then did not provide.

Getmein.com, which promises "tickets for true fans" priced at £109 for reserved Hampden Park seats, prevents sellers from offering more than four unwanted tickets simultaneously in an attempt to combat touts.

It last week listed two seated tickets together for £187, compared to the £55 and £60 through Ticketmaster's officially allocated sales website.

Soldouteventtickets.com highlighted the organised nature of many of the fans selling unwanted tickets. Last week it had reserved general seating for Hampden priced at £99, general admission for £103, and packages which guaranteed people would sit next to each other for £104.

Meanwhile, TicketsNow, operated by Ticketmaster's US division, targets the US market. Although it had no tickets listed for Hampden, people could buy seats at AC/DC's gig at the O2 Arena in London on April 16 for $630 (£437).

Ticketmaster became embroiled in an ugly legal confrontation with Pearl Jam in the mid-1990s. The US rock band pulled out of a tour in protest at Ticketmaster's service charges and threatened to organise their own tickets.

The rebel tour did not go ahead, but the row sparked an inquiry into anti-competitive practices by the US Justice Department. The investigation was later shelved due to lack of evidence.

Hampden does not have its own ticket agency for non-football events and sold most of the 50,000 capacity through the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, which still had some available last week. Ticketmaster has a contract with AC/DC to provide paperless ticketing in an attempt to cut down on forgeries.

Glasgow Labour MSP and music fan Frank McAveety said: "It is strange that a company which has control over the tickets can allow them to be re-sold on a site owned by it.

"That's taking advantage of the fans and, given this is one of the most hard-to-get tickets of 2009, I think it is making more than enough from the high ticket prices."

A Ticketmaster spokesman said: "People who have purchased tickets for the AC/DC tour are able to go on to getmein and sell their tickets if they are unable to go to the gig. It's a marketplace and we facilitate sales between seller and buyer.

"This was a way for us to give legitimacy to the marketplace and some protection to the fans. We have certain guards against multiple buying and the AC/DC limit is four per person.

"If one person tries to purchase 20 tickets it will automatically cancel the four."