TQ Tickets Ltd firm sold £6.5m of tickets, court hears

TQ Tickets Ltd used fake identities to buy large amounts of tickets for artists such as Ed Sheeran and Little Mix on primary sites, including Ticketmaster, to then re-sell them on secondary ticketing platforms, a jury at Leeds Crown Court was told.

The court heard how Maria Chenery-Woods and Paul Douglas have pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading but their respective spouses – Mark Woods, 59, and Lynda Chenery, 51, – have denied the offences and went on trial on Wednesday morning.

The court was told how TQ Tickets Ltd bought a large amounts of tickets for artists such as Ed Sheeran (Image: PA)Jonathan Sandiford, prosecuting, said: "What this case is about is greed and dishonesty. The two defendants were ticket touts.

"They were part of a dishonest scheme that, over a number of years, exploited the love and passion that many of us have for our favourite pop bands, our favourite artists – people like Ed Sheeran and so forth."

The prosecutor explained how the firm would make multiple applications for event tickets, sometimes using entirely fictional identities and a range of bank and debit cards.

He said the actions of the firm sometimes led to fans being refused entry to venues or with poorer tickets than they paid for.

The prosecutor referred to practices including “doing a fraudie”, which involved sending customers ripped envelopes to infer that the tickets had been lost-in-transit, or “using fraud juice”, which involved the use of Tipp-Ex correcting fluid, or more sophisticated digital methods, to amend tickets.

He told jurors how the firm was originally set up as a coach company and retained a “veneer” of legitimacy.

Mr Sandiford said that in the period June 2015 to December 2017, the firm had sales in excess of £6.5m on secondary ticket platforms.

The court heard that all four of them lived in Dickleburgh, near Diss, during this two and half year period.

TQ Tickets Ltd bought tickets for Little Mix concerts, the court was told (Image: PA)

Mr Sandiford said: “Although Mrs Chenery-Woods was the driving force behind this dishonest scheme both of these defendants played different but important roles in that dishonest enterprise.”

He told the jury that the fact that Chenery-Woods and Douglas had pleaded guilty meant that there was “no dispute that the fraudulent scheme exists”.

He said Chenery-Woods was “obsessed with ticket touting” and Douglas was “extremely loyal to her and her ticket touting enterprise”.

The prosecutor said Woods was less enthusiastic and referred to it as a “horrid industry”.

He said both the defendants on trial were involved in the practice of providing multiple identities and credit and debit cards for buying tickets.

Woods and Chenery deny three counts of fraudulent trading and the trial continues.