‘Unfair’ as Oasis fans call Wembley thousands of times for accessible tickets

Oasis fans have said getting accessible tickets for Wembley Stadium is an “impossible task”, as they tried to call one phone number thousands of times.

General tickets went on sale for the band’s comeback tour at 9am on Saturday, and fans requesting accessible tickets were advised to call a phone number for the Wembley concerts.

But Frances Mobbs said trying to get accessible tickets for her son was an “impossible task”.

Mrs Mobbs, from Norfolk, wanted to buy four tickets for her son Nick Mobbs, 41, his carer and two family members, for the concert on July 26.

She sent through supporting documents for the accessible tickets and tried to call repeatedly for two hours when the phone line opened.

“My son has been a fan from day one, like millions of other people, of course, we’re trying to get tickets,” she said.

“I know I’m one of thousands and thousands and thousands of people, but there’s one dedicated phone line which is constantly engaged or saying we are unable to complete your call.

“I’ve been calling for two hours, I keep repeating and repeating.

“It’s frustrating, totally and utterly frustrating.”

Mrs Mobbs, 67, said her son, who is paraplegic and has spina bifida and hydrocephalus, had major surgery this year, and seeing Oasis is a “bucket list type thing”.

She added: “He’s not able to go in the crowd, he’s in a wheelchair.

“It’s just disappointing there isn’t a separate page online.”

She said that getting accessible tickets for Wembley was “probably an impossible task really at the end of the day.”

Asked what it would mean to him to see Oasis next year, Mr Mobbs said “everything”.

Martin, who did not want to give his last name, tried to call the phone number more than 1,500 times on Saturday to get an accessible ticket and a companion ticket for himself and his wife Sarah, 31, who has a spinal condition and fibromyalgia.

Martin, 35, an engineer, from Newcastle upon Tyne, tried to get tickets for Taylor Swift and Oasis at Wembley.

“Other places aren’t this hard,” he said.

“You can’t get through to them and it was the same for Taylor Swift.

“I’ve pressed recall 1,531 times.

“The companion ticket is a lifesaver. The additional costs of being disabled are quite huge. The companion ticket is free of charge, as if my wife wanted to go by herself she wouldn’t be able to go.

“There’s no reason you should be treated differently from someone getting standard tickets, but unfortunately it’s made harder.

“Its quite frustrating and disheartening, my wife feels like a third-class citizen.

“Accessibility is about being equal and about not being disadvantaged.”

Mark Pithers, 56, from Cambridgeshire, tried calling the accessibility line thousands of times on Saturday.

He said: “It’s just insane. I need a wheelchair space, I have a hip issue which means I can’t walk very far.

“I know they’re limited spaces, but to just keep it on a phone line seems insanity to me and deeply unfair.

“I’ve redialled 2,000 times since 9am. You get a message that says it’s busy or there’s one that says we can’t complete your call or sorry but the caller is on another line.

“I understand venues like to keep accessible tickets in-house because it’s much easier for them to make sure people are disabled, and in my case I get a ticket for a companion, but surely they can set up a dedicated web page.

“Nobody wants to be in the position disabled people are in, so to have this it’s insulting really, we’re treated like this and expected to keep redialling and redialling in the hope we’re lucky enough to get through.”

Meanwhile, a learning disability charity said the current methods of booking concert tickets can “exclude” somes fans.

Jackie O’Sullivan, Mencap’s executive director of strategy and influence, told the PA news agency: “Lines where you have to press one for this and two for that, and online kind of booking systems are inaccessible to quite a lot of people with a learning disability.

“It’s the sort of thing that quite a lot of the public actually gets irritated by, but for people with a learning disability, it actually excludes them from being able to participate.”

She urged promoters and online ticket agents to get in touch with her organisation to make it “simpler” by looking at the language used, as well as setting aside tickets for people with disabilities.

A Wembley Stadium spokesman said: “The demand for accessibility tickets to Oasis Live’ 25 has been unprecedented. Unfortunately, this has resulted in waiting times being longer than normal.

“For those customers unable to wait on the phone we have a call-back system in place which allows users to leave their details and await a response from our customer service team.”

The phone-only service is in place for Wembley Stadium to understand the fan’s needs and check proof of eligibility, the PA news agency understands.