Ed Sheeran's manager says touts are 'taking money from dying kids'

Ed Sheeran's manager has said he's decided to speak out against ticket touts after complaints that they were "taking money from dying kids' hands".

There was outrage last month after reports that £110 tickets for a charity concert were being resold for £5,000.

Sheeran's manager Stuart Camp and other industry figures have given evidence to a House of Commons select committee.

Earlier, he said people were "making extreme profits" and it was getting "out of our control".

He told BBC Breakfast: "It was the outpouring of anger about that particular incident which was really just seen as people taking money from dying kids' hands.

"That's a charity show, we put that show on to raise funds and people are just taking advantage, and it's something that needs to be controlled."

The show in question is a Teenage Cancer Trust concert starring Sheeran at the Royal Albert Hall on 28 March.

'Confusion and anger'

"We're looking for the enforcement of laws that already exist but we need to have greater transparency," he said.

Secondary websites - which allow people to offer tickets for resale, often at higher prices - must make it clear that fans aren't buying from the original source, he said.

"At the moment they can hide behind certain things and it's not great and that's why there's some confusion and anger."

Fans also may not know whether they are safely buying a genuine ticket or where their seats will be located, said Mr Camp.

He added: "But it's just too much money. It's people making extreme profits - it's just coming out of our control, which is not great."

The government has proposed a new law that will outlaw "bots" - software that buys large numbers of tickets as soon as they go on sale by getting around the limit for how many tickets a person is allowed to buy.

The Competition and Markets Authority has also launched an inquiry into whether sellers and websites are breaking the law by failing to provide the full range of information about the tickets they offer for sale.

Mr Camp was among those giving evidence to the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport committee on Tuesday.