ticket

Related Links

• Scalpers sell tickets at game
• Clampdown on fake SWC tickets
• Repay money spent on tickets

Durban - A man was questioned by the police after he was spotted selling tickets for the World Cup match between Spain and Switzerland at Durban's Moses Mabhida stadium on Wednesday.

He was seen selling category two tickets for R500 each, but when a queue for the tickets formed, he and another man upped their prices to R600 a ticket.

Category two tickets were sold for R700 each. Police noticed the queue and went over to investigate. They took the one man away, while the other entered the stadium unhindered.

A Sapa reporter said they had many tickets on them and one man was seen handing over R4 000 for tickets. Further information on the tout's fate was not immediately available.

Similar scenes played out at the game between Chile and Honduras at the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit.

Zero tolerance

Soccer's governing body FIFA had a "zero tolerance" policy toward scalping, but a police constable on duty outside the stadium's main gate said he didn't know if the practice was illegal or not.

"I really don't know," the constable said, as a scalper a few metres from him sold six tickets for R100 each to a group of Chilean supporters.

One scalper simply shrugged when asked if he knew about FIFA's strict rules on the matter.

"What can I do?" he said. "I have to sell these tickets."

When asked where he got the tickets from, he grinned and added: "I don't know I bought these already, I don't know."

Groups of people arrived expecting to be able to buy tickets from touts. If they were unsuccessful, they got onto buses and went to fan parks.

A Belgian tour operator and a man wearing FIFA accreditation were also seen outside the gates trying to sell their tickets. A Chilean television journalist managed to get into the stadium after paying R100 for a ticket.

The cheapest tickets, if bought through FIFA, cost South Africans R140.