THIS week the Echo reported on the 50th anniversary of the night Jimi Hendrix played to an audience of a few hundred fans in Darlington.

The gig has become the stuff of local musical folklore, in part due to claims that one of Hendrix’s guitars was nicked from the back of the tour van. Welcome to the North-East Jimi. 

Whether singer songwriter Ed Sheeran similarly stands the test of time remains to be seen but many people desperate to see the star’s upcoming shows were left fuming after tickets for his two nights at the 11,000 capacity Newcastle Metro Radio Arena sold out in minutes.

Demand from genuine fans was sky high but in recent years there has been an explosion in the number of touts, many of whom use software known as “bots” that automatically sweep up huge numbers of tickets the moment they go on sale. They then resell them via secondary market websites at eye-watering prices.

Minutes after the sold out signs appeared online some resale websites were flogging Sheeran seats at almost three times their face value, and charging £40 booking fee and £10 postage. These companies market themselves as a safe way for fans to buy and sell, but they are really just a hi-tech versions of the old-fashioned street tout and they should be stamped out.

Wearside MP Sharon Hodgson has called for a limit of 10 per cent on ticket mark-ups but her efforts have been stymied by free marketeers, including millionaire Tory minister Sajid Javid, who says touts “act like classic entrepreneurs because they fill a gap in the market that they have identified”. This is a trademark Javid response - his laissez faire approach to economics saw him stand by and let Redcar steelworks close during his time as business secretary - so don't hold your breath if you want the Government to step in and stop the rip-off merchants. 

Until the law changes the best action that music fans can take is to boycott secondary ticket sites or use those, such as Twickets or Scarlet Mist, which allow people to buy and sell tickets at face value or less. Stop buying from Get Me In, Seatwave, StubHub and Viagogo and they will go out of business - it is as simple as that.  

In 50 years from now will people be talking about the night they saw Ed Sheeran perform? Probably not. It is more likely they will recall an era when we were ripped off by money-grabbing scammers.