A handicapped mom who was unable to purchase enough tickets for her kids to attend Taylor Swift’s Cardiff performance has got an apology from Ticketmaster.
While other customers could purchase up to four tickets for the concert, Cat Dafydd was advised by the ticket vendor that she could only purchase one accessible ticket, along with one free ticket for a caregiver.
Ms Dafydd, who needs a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury, spent £1,800 to watch Swift with her daughters in France. Ticketmaster apologised and offered Ms Dafydd three complimentary tickets to the Cardiff show, but their accessibility policy remains unchanged.
Ms Dafydd, from Llandysul, Ceredigion, said she first contacted Ticketmaster in June 2023 to ask about taking her daughters to the concert.
She was told she would be unable to do this because she required an accessible ticket. Ms Dafydd said: “I can’t take my daughters, but if I didn’t have a disability I would be able to. “It made me feel, as a disabled person, as if I was worth less than anyone else.”
Ms Dafydd chose to spend £1,800 on hospitality tickets to Swift’s event in Lyon, France, via another website.
While she and her girls are delighted about the Eras tour, they think Ticketmaster’s policies are unjust. Elliw, 11, stated that going to France will put further burden on their mother.
“The day before the concert, my mum will probably be in a lot of pain and will have to lie down on the bed,” Elliw remarked. Ms. Dafydd went on to say: “Being disabled has cost me so much more in order to just have a wonderful experience with my children that other people can have really easily.”
Ms Dafydd sent a letter to Ticketmaster in June 2023 to complain about its accessibility policy. However, she said it was “completely ignored”. After receiving a request for comment from the BBC, Ticketmaster apologised to Ms Dafydd and offered her three free tickets to the concert in Cardiff.
Ticketmaster said the situation was “not handled according to the standards we have set for ourselves”. Managing director of Ticketmaster UK, Andrew Parsons, added: “We take accessibility very seriously and always work with venues and promoters to accommodate requests wherever possible.
“We apologise to Ms Dafydd and are pleased that the situation has now been resolved.” Ms Dafydd said: “I’m glad that Ticketmaster has apologised and recognised that my experience with their access service was not what it should have been.”
According to Elin Williams of Disability Wales, purchasing event tickets might “take hours” for handicapped persons.
“Very ironically, the process of buying accessible tickets isn’t accessible,” she went on to say. “It’s terribly unjust that non-disabled persons can buy tickets in a few easy clicks in under a couple of minutes while handicapped people have to wait hours.
“It means that people are put off from being able to go to these shows because of the inequality and barriers that exist.” Cardiff’s Principality Stadium, which was not in charge of ticket sales but is hosting the Swift event, stated: “Our responsibility as host venue is to work in cooperation with the promoter and ticket operator to offer a safe and pleasurable experience for all fans attending the stadium”
