THE York venue where disgruntled fans were turned away from a Ricky Gervais gig last night has spoken out.

As The Press reported earlier today (January 12) Gervais was playing a second night at York Barbican last night (January 11) and it appears that only people who had bought tickets via TicketMaster were being allowed into the venue and not Viagogo, which are the tickets from a resale site.

York Press: York Barbican box officeYork Barbican box office

In response to complaints on social media from fans, Gervais said: "The promoter, Live Nation, is investigating what happened. So frustrating, I know."

The Barbican billed the event as their most sought after gig with 40,000 applying for tickets.

The venue has now said that all tickets were sold via Ticketmaster under the condition that they were not to be resold as per the T&Cs and Viagogo has said that anyone who was turned away will get a full refund.

A Barbican spokesman said: "A significant number of people were unable to enter the venue to see the sold-out Ricky Gervais show on Wednesday due to the box office being presented with a large number of fake tickets.

"Due to the number of fake tickets presented, a decision was made to only allow tickets purchased from Ticketmaster as the sole authorised ticket seller for this event. While we never want to turn away fans, we are simply not permitted to allow entry to customers with fake tickets. We did everything possible to accommodate people who had tickets from touts, however due to the sheer volume presented we were unable to assist everybody."

Meanwhile a Viagogo spokesman said: “We were shocked to hear that fans were turned away from Ricky Gervais’ performance at the York Barbican just because their tickets were purchased through viagogo. As a business whose entire mission is to get people into events safely and securely, we view this kind of anti-consumer behaviour as totally unacceptable. Customers should never be used as a casualty in an attempt to control ticket sales.

“It is perfectly legal to pass on, sell or give tickets to other people. Turning people away at the door who’ve bought legitimate tickets just because you disagree with ticket resale is an abuse of consumer freedom. Customers should be allowed the choice and flexibility to use a resale website if they want to, and this basic right should be protected.

“Any viagogo ticket holder that was denied entry to this event will be provided with a full refund in line with our guarantee, which ensures all buyers will get in the door or their money back.”