Premier League tickets: Touted resales exposed by BBC highlighted in Brighton vs Spurs match

Brighton say they are using new technologies to try and crack down on the reselling of tickets for vastly inflated prices by unauthorised websites.

To try and get a grip of the problem, this season they hired Joseph Sells into a new staff position as tickets investigation officer, and he was on duty for the Tottenham fixture.

“We’ve found hundreds [of unauthorised resale tickets] today, and going at the black market rate, we’ve prevented around £100,000 of transactions that would have been going to touts,” Sells said.

“We’re investing heavily in stopping the problem at the core, using the latest tech we can, and we’re on top of it.

“A family came with six tickets to watch the Manchester City match a fortnight ago, which they had paid a total of £6,000 for.

“That’s very upsetting of course. It’s a sad story, but that’s why we’re reiterating – if you want to come and see a game, buy directly from the club.”

Brighton later told the BBC that 285 touted tickets were blocked at the match, and that 12 individual season ticket holders were also identified as touts and have had their tickets for future matches cancelled.

One of the tout accounts used the name Tony Montana – the lead character in ’80s gangster film Scarface – to try and bulk purchase tickets.