Newcastle Oasis fan called Wembley Stadium 1,500 times for accessible tickets

Charlotte McLaughlin and Jordan Reynolds, PA & Daniel Hall
·2-min read
Oasis at Wembley Stadium
-Credit: (Image: Mirrorpix)


A Newcastle engineer said he called Wembley Stadium 1,531 times as he attempted to secure accessible tickets for Oasis' reunion tour.

General tickets went on sale for the band's comeback tour at 9am on Saturday, and fans requesting accessible tickets were advised to call a phone number for the Wembley concerts. However, fans have described getting through to the line, let alone getting tickets, as an "impossible task".

Martin, an engineer from Newcastle who did not want to give his last name told PA news agency, said he tried to call the phone number more than 1,500 times on Saturday. The 35-year-old was trying to get an accessible ticket and a companion ticket for himself and his wife Sarah, 31, who has a spinal condition and fibromyalgia.

He had previously tried to get tickets for Taylor Swift at Wembley. Martin told PA: "Other places aren't this hard. You can't get through to them and it was the same for Taylor Swift. I've pressed recall 1,531 times."

Martin described the free of charge companion ticket as a lifesaver, and said that the additional costs of being disabled are "quite huge". He continued: "If my wife wanted to go by herself she wouldn't be able to go.

"There’s no reason you should be treated differently from someone getting standard tickets, but unfortunately it’s made harder.

"Its quite frustrating and disheartening, my wife feels like a third-class citizen. Accessibility is about being equal and about not being disadvantaged."

Learning disability charity Mencap say that the current methods of booking concert tickets can "exclude" some fans. Jackie O'Sullivan, Mencap's executive director of strategy and influence, said: "Lines where you have to press one for this and two for that, and online kind of booking systems are inaccessible to quite a lot of people with a learning disability.

"It’s the sort of thing that quite a lot of the public actually gets irritated by, but for people with a learning disability, it actually excludes them from being able to participate."

She urged promoters and online ticket agents to get in touch with the organisation to make it "simpler" by looking at language used, as well as setting aside tickets for people with disabilities.

A Wembley Stadium spokesman said: "The demand for accessibility tickets to Oasis Live’ 25 has been unprecedented. Unfortunately, this has resulted in waiting times being longer than normal.

"For those customers unable to wait on the phone we have a call-back system in place which allows users to leave their details and await a response from our customer service team."

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