A judge has ordered Ticketmaster to refund fully a Coldplay fan who ended up crouching in “restricted view” seats, unable to see the band during their sell-out Croke Park concert last year.
When the chart-topping band announced it was including Dublin in its world tour, James McGetrick thought he “hit the jackpot”, but the concert became a “disaster”.
Dublin District Court heard he bought two presale tickets, totalling €332, to go to the gig with his wife on August 29th. However, on the night they were forced to “crouch down” in their seats near the back of the lower Hogan Stand to see the performance.
He said that when he bought them, restricted view was not mentioned.
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Ticketmaster ordered by court to refund Coldplay fan who could not see band from his seat at Croke Park
Mr McGetrick took a small claims case against Ticketline Unlimited Company, trading as Ticketmaster, which did not attend court.
He told Judge Peter White how he and his wife were directed to the fourth row from the back of the Hogan Stand. He also said that Coldplay’s stage was “quite elevated” for the people standing on the pitch.
All the people in front of him and his wife stood, so they had to stand up to see over the heads of those fans.
McGetrick also said the overhang from the upper Hogan Stand also hindered their view.
As the concert went on, concertgoers in the seats behind them, who had an even worse view, began to fill the aisle.
After seven or eight songs, he and three girls from the row in front of him approached a steward. He alleged the steward was were more interested in the concert, had not looked back and was not policing anything.
McGetrick, of Corrib Road, Terenure, Dublin 6, said stewards then went back up the stand with them and told everyone in the aisles to return to their seats.
That turned bad, he said, because “all those people who were sent back to the seats started to blame myself, now they could not see anything as well”.
The atmosphere turned unpleasant, and “popcorn and litter was being thrown at us, it was just terrible”.
The next day, he complained to Ticketmaster, which told him to contact the promoter, MCD.
Originally filing his small claim action against MCD, the District Court ruled he should have brought it against Ticketmaster instead. He then lodged a fresh action against the ticket sale site.
The firm eventually offered €190, but McGetrick persisted with his case, seeking the full amount he paid for the tickets.
He thought the seats would be better because he got the tickets via the artist presale option.
“The whole thing was a disaster,” he told the court.
Noting Ticketmaster did not attend the hearing to contest the action, the account of the experience and evidence of the purchase, Judge White granted a decree in favour of McGetrick.
