31 racegoers denied entry to Doncaster after buying tickets from touts

Doncaster has warned racegoers not to buy tickets from touts outside the course after 31 people were denied admission on the first day of the Cazoo St Leger meeting on Wednesday.

The racegoers were spotted buying tickets from touts on the track's security cameras and when they tried to gain entry were told to purchase tickets from the course itself if they wanted to come racing.

After the racecourse tweeted on Wednesday that: "31 people were declined entry today after buying tickets from unofficial sources", the track's executive director Rachel Harwood said: "The ticket touts were stood directly outside the County entrance. We have CCTV both within the racecourse and on the footprint of our car parks for safety reasons.

"Our head of safety could watch people buying them and when they came to the racecourse they were denied entry and told to go and get their money back and buy tickets from the racecourse."

Explaining the policy of denying admission to the 31 people, Harwood said: "It's about protecting revenue. The revenue we make goes back to the stakeholders. If people are misselling tickets we can't support better prize-money.

"It happens on big festival days and music events, and I suspect it's an issue at all racecourses.

"The touts are stood on the pavement, but that's public property. If they step onto the footprint of the racecourse or step onto the car park our security can ask them to move."

In an unrelated matter, an 81-year-old racegoer, who was denied admission because he wanted to pay with cash at the turnstiles, has been invited to be a guest at Doncaster, as the course acknowledged it should have responded to coverage of his case on social media.

Harwood said: "We are a cashless venue and have been since I joined in 2020, but that tweet should have been responded to directly so we have been in touch with him and have invited him to come as a guest."

Explaining why Doncaster is cashless, Harwood said: "It is Arena Racing Company's policy, the same as the Jockey Club and many other sports venues.

"It is the way the world is going and the cost of managing cash is immense. In the last decade when we operated with cash, we'd have 20 staff here until two or three in the morning counting it. We'd then have to process it, send it to the bank and make up about 200 floats."

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