We call on the UK Government to introduce legislation banning compulsory booking, service and administration fees added to online ticket purchases.

Consumers are increasingly forced to pay additional charges simply to complete purchases online. These fees are often unavoidable, poorly explained and added late in the purchasing process, making it difficult to compare prices or understand the true cost before committing to buy.

This practice affects millions of people buying tickets for concerts, theatres, sporting events, attractions and transport. For example, a family purchasing event tickets may find an additional booking fee of £2–£5 per ticket, plus a separate transaction or service charge, adding £10–£30 or more to the advertised price. Train ticket retailers can also apply booking or service fees on certain ticket types or transactions, meaning passengers may pay more than the advertised fare simply because of where or how they book.

We believe the advertised price should be the price consumers pay.   We therefore ask the Government to:

- Ban compulsory booking, service and administration fees that are not optional.
- Require all unavoidable charges to be included in the advertised ticket price from the outset.
- Ensure any optional extras are clearly identified and genuinely optional.
- Strengthen enforcement against businesses that use hidden or misleading pricing practices.

This change would create greater transparency, improve consumer confidence, encourage fair competition between ticket providers and ensure people pay the price they are led to expect, rather than being surprised by unavoidable additional charges at the point of payment.