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Fringe ticket fiasco inquiry to be launched in September

Published Wednesday 13 August 2008 at 14:55 by Rebecca Herbert

Full coverage of the Edinburgh Festivals

An independent inquiry into the ongoing ticketing chaos that has hit the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is to be launched in September.

Jon Morgan, director of the festival, announced the review earlier this week after a meeting with representatives from most of the fringe’s 247 venues.

Around 40,000 festivalgoers have been affected by the ticket problems caused when a new centralised ticketing system collapsed on June 9, the day after it began operating.

Morgan admitted it was the most serious technical failure the 51-year-old event had ever experienced.

He said: “The fringe board will commission an independent inquiry into the box office and the broader structure of the Festival Fringe Society.

“Any individuals or organisations that wish to contribute to the review will have an opportunity to do so.”

The inquiry will investigate who was to blame for the problems and if the Fringe Society, which runs the festival, needs fundamental reform or new management.

More details will be announced at the AGM on August 16 but Tim Hawkins has been brought in as temporary general manager of the fringe and will oversee and co-ordinating the review process.

Printing difficulties in the run-up to the event meant mailing deadlines were missed and in the confusion, many shows were oversold.

Other problems included delayed ticket sales, missing bookings and anger about lost revenue.

Morgan was forced to use manual ticket production and switch sales to a software system.

He said: “Considering the problems we have experienced with ticketing this year and looking at the wider economic situation, we think that it’s been a fantastic fringe so far.”

He added hundreds of thousands of tickets have been sold and that the “Fringe Society is financially secure.”

Ticket holders have been advised by the fringe box office to check the website for details of how to collect tickets for specific performances.

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