While Machel Montano delivered a world-class performance inside the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Monday night, hundreds of fans who paid to attend the event were denied entry. Some of them became so irritated they pushed through a wall of security officers, damaging a gate, and barged into the stadium. Maria Sookdeo, who bought a ticket online at island e-tickets.com, was one of many who found themselves being denied entry to the Monk Monte concert.
Sookdeo, who bought her ticket, using her credit card from island e-tickets.com since January, said her night on Monday was spent in confusion. “My husband and I waited in line for about an hour and when we went to have our tickets scanned they told us one ticket was invalid and that the other was already used. “I couldn’t understand because we purchased both tickets online at the same time,” Sookdeo added.
She said she had no idea what the problem was but thought that maybe someone had hacked the island e-tickets Web site and immediately worried about her credit card information. “We were out in front for two hours after they told us the tickets were invalid. “Then someone from island e-tickets, named Matthew, came and told us they were not responsible.”
Sookdeo she and her husband were part of the disgruntled crowd who spent hundreds of dollars on tickets which proved useless when the crowd barged through security and into the concert. “My husband got hurt during the rush and we left shortly after that but it is so embarrassing to us because there were foreigners in the crowd and they also had tickets which they couldn’t use and were being told no, they could not go in,” she added.
Candice Jardine, who also attended the show, said when she got there just after 9 pm, many people were piled in the platinum area and organisers had closed off the gates to the car parks. She said: “They separated men and women in different lines. The women’s line was moving faster, then suddenly everything stopped. “We stood up about 15 minutes not knowing what was going on and after a while the line started moving and we reached to the steps. There was a bottleneck for people scanning tickets.
“There was no signage for the online tickets and no one was telling us what to do and what not to do. People were pushing. “It was hot, people were climbing and trying to see what was going, people were calling for the police to help.”
Event organiser responds
Anthony Chow Lin On, managing director of a local radio station, and the man Montano publicly recognised as the organiser for the event, said the scenario was a new one and he was still putting together information. From the information he had already gathered though, he said it was apparent that some patrons had purchased e-tickets from scalpers who were basically photocopying e-tickets and selling them en masse.
“Quite a lot people bought e-tickets from scalpers. Scalpers were purchasing tickets and photo copying them,” he added. He said several people questioned about the source of the tickets could not verify that they were purchased online. He added because of all the confusion there was a backup and the gates became momentarily chaotic. “I have to look at it as a learning experience. People should not be buying tickets from scalpers.
“If there are people who bought legitimate tickets they should e-mail the Web site they bought it from. People need to get in touch with Island Tickets,” Chow Lin On said. He added he had contacted Island Tickets yesterday morning and had received an explanation from them. “I regret the inconvenience to anyone and I want to urge members of the public not to purchase these things from people on the streets,” he said.
Head of island e-tickets Kwesi Hopkinson was not available to comment when contacted by the T&T Guardian yesterday.