Cricket World Cup organisers have played down complaints from fans who have failed to receive their match tickets, saying the problem is “absolutely normal” for major events and would be addressed.
Fans were told to expect delivery six weeks before their match when they bought their tickets. But dozens of supporters expressed anger on social media after their tickets failed to show up.
On Twitter Ryan Biggs wrote that he had bought tickets for England’s game against South Africa on Thursday but it had not yet been sent. “The organisers haven’t made a statement as to what’s happening and it’s virtually impossible to get through to Ticketmaster to find out,” he said. “It’s a disgrace.”
Another fan, Michael Bostwick, said he had tried 74 times to call Ticketmaster but had not got through, while other supporters complained that they had been charged £4.50 for each delivery yet had not got their tickets.
Adrian Wells, director of marketing and ticketing for the Cricket World Cup, promised that everyone would receive their tickets by the end of the week. He insisted only 300 of the 24,500 crowd would have to pick up their tickets from the box office for England’s game against South Africa, and pledged that the box office would open early at 7.30am to minimise any issues with queues. “We are seeing absolutely peanuts numbers of those sort of people and Ticketmaster tell us it is absolutely normal for some tickets to be lost,” he told the Guardian.
When asked what his message was to fans who had bought tickets that had not yet arrived, he replied: “Everybody will have their tickets by the end of this week. If for any reason you have not got your ticket two days before a match call our call centre and we will cancel your ticket and just reissue it at the box office.
“The wider story is that it is a record-breaking World Cup with ticket sales – we are going to sell 95% of tickets and going to have packed stadiums. It is going to be fantastic.”
