Deafblind Man Disappointed After Calling Oasis Ticket Line 800 Times

A deafblind man has been left “thoroughly disappointed” after calling Wembley Stadium’s Oasis disability ticket line 800 times with “no success”.

Steven Morris, a campaigns officer for the disability charity Sense, who also has autism, was “really excited” to hear that the Manchester band was reuniting for the first time in 15 years. Morris had previously seen the band in 2000 and 2009.

However, his excitement soon turned into sadness. Morris said the band’s disabled fans had to “jump through so many more hoops” compared to non-disabled customers, leaving him without a ticket and feeling a “real sense of disappointment.”

“Due to the nature of my disabilities, I need a companion to come with me. Otherwise, I can’t access the event,” Morris explained. The process for obtaining accessibility tickets is different from the normal method. While everyone else was in the big Ticketmaster queue, disabled people had to call a specific number for the limited number of accessible tickets.

“On Saturday, I called that number 800 times with no success. I was unable to get tickets and know many other disabled people were in the same boat. It was a thoroughly disappointing experience,” added Morris.

Morris expressed frustration, saying, “It feels like Wembley Stadium is forcing disabled people to jump through so many hoops that other non-disabled ticket buyers don’t have to.”

He recounted similar issues when trying to buy Taylor Swift tickets for Wembley, eventually choosing to see the star in Cardiff due to a simpler ticketing process. A Sense research report found that 28% of disabled people found it difficult to book event tickets, underscoring the wider problem.

Morris described himself as “fortunate” to have seen Oasis before and noted that the ordeal has put him off trying to get tickets for any future gigs at the national stadium. “I’ve been a fan for as long as Oasis has been around. Like so many people, I was really excited when they were getting back together,” he shared. “But now I just feel a real sense of disappointment. This experience has really put me off trying to buy tickets for any kind of show, unless there’s a significant change in the process.”

Morris felt there’s a “reluctance” to change the way disability tickets are sold at Wembley and pointed out that other venues have much simpler methods. “Access tickets should be sold in the same way as all other tickets, online,” he suggested.

He questioned why Wembley maintains its phone-based system, especially when the line was engaged for all 800 calls he made. “It seems to me that we don’t have the same level of access that non-disabled people have, and under the equality act, companies should be making reasonable adjustments,” Morris explained.

A Wembley Stadium spokesperson addressed the high demand for accessibility tickets for Oasis Live’ 25, which resulted in longer waiting times than normal. “We had a call-back system in place for those unable to wait on the phone, allowing users to leave their details and await a response from our customer service team,” the spokesperson said.

Adding to the frustration, those buying non-disabled tickets also faced issues, including long online queues and dynamic pricing, which saw in-demand tickets soar to double their face value.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 450 complaints about Ticketmaster advertisements for the Oasis gigs.