Belladrum musical festival marred by fake tickets

Imagine turning up to the gates of a festival after saving all summer for a ticket worth hundreds of pounds only to told it is a fake.

17.year old Ryan Fiddes from Forres had tried to buy tickets on the day they were released but missed out.

His Mum Ann told us of his delight after he bought tickets off Twitter a few days later:

'It looked genuine, it was printed, it was sent through email it looked absolutely legitimate.

'The other two friends got in but when Ryan and Felix handed over their ticket they were told it's fake.

'They said it is illegal to let them in, he was hanging about on the off chance that someone would come along selling an extra ticket. But he didn't have another £160 to buy another, but he was just holding out, hoping for something.

'It is just, it looks legitimate. How do you know what you're buying is not legitimate. It has been a costly excuse fo a 17 year old. and how do you know it isn't going to happen again.'

Ryan has been allowed into the campsite but will not have access to any of the music venues or the food stalls.

His Mum Ann is hopeful of getting the money back but said the bank has not promised it will be returned.

Another family from Strathpeffer also fell victim to a scam.

Val Houston's 15 year old daughter Darcie loves music and begged her parents for a ticket but they had already sold out.

A family friend had four tickets and sold a spare to Val for her daughter.

But the family friend had been scammed, and it's thought the fraudster made off with more than £1,000 after selling at least seven tickets.

Both these incidents happened on the first day of the Belladrum festival and organisers are warning anyone about the dangers of buying tickets from an unverified source.

A spokesperson said: 'Buying tickets through unofficial platforms, such as auction sites or secondary market sites can be very risky.

'You leave yourself open to the risk of either not receiving the money from the buyer, or if you are buying, being given fraudulent tickets.

'Touting can be a serious issue for events and leads to huge losses - ultimately leading to prices being increased for future events to cover losses.

'Many customers will use unofficial channels and will then be left out of pocket or unable to gain entry to the event because their tickets aren't valid - a big disappointment if you're turned away at the door.

'Our resale platform solves these issues. Because Skiddle are the official ticket agent, we can verify that tickets being returned and resold are genuine.

'Therefore there is no risk of buying a fraudulent ticket. We also only allow resale at face value to prevent ticket touting for profit.

'You can also rest assured that refunds will be processed in an official, timely manner.'