Spandau Ballet’s Martin Kemp has paid a refund to a couple who were unable to attend his concert after they were unable to resell their disabled access tickets through seller AXS.
Posting on X, a woman tweeted AXS and said: “You won’t let me resell accessible tickets.
“My husband is in critical condition in the ICU. If we had ‘normal’ tickets, I could sell them back. Isn’t this discrimination?”
In response, Kemp said: “I will personally refund your tix.”
Musician and actor who hosted Back To The 80s Xmas Party! concert on Friday at Dreamland Margate, adding: “I’m so sorry to hear this. I’ll follow up. More than that I wish your husband well. And wish him a speedy recovery. And when he’s fine, come to another show as my guest!!”
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Jonathan Brown, Chief Executive of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, told the BBC he had contacted AXS, which was “already aware of the issue and is working to resolve it for customers”.
Mr Brown said: “Ticket agents work on behalf of promoters and venues and some ticketing issues may depend on them liaising with their clients before being able to resolve the difficulties.
“STAR remains committed to improving ticketing services for people with disabilities and identifying where improvements can be made. Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention.”
The BBC has contacted AXS and Dreamland Margate for comment.
Others commented on the post on X, formerly Twitter, saying they too were having difficulty with accessible concert tickets.
‘Wild goose chase’
Alex, who is deaf and uses a wheelchair, told the BBC that buying accessible tickets was “often a waste of time”.
He said the problems included no tickets being accessible in pre-sale, the number of tickets on offer was very small “meaning 1000s of tickets were competing for a small number of tickets” and that disabled viewing platforms were often far away from the platform and all had different prices. The same.
“I tried contacting venues and artist management to complain and ask how many tickets were available compared to general sales, but I was often ignored,” he added.
Because he needed a translator, Alex said he was even more restricted when it came to purchasing accessible tickets.
“Some venues made it so difficult to book a translator that I had to send over 50 emails for one show threatening legal action before they finally provided one.
“I have even been told before to choose between needing a wheelchair space or accessing a translator; as if I could choose what disability I had that day!”
