Can you be refused from an event for no reason?

I'd see a distinction between an ordinary night out at a pub where you don't have a ticket and an even like a concert, where you buy your ticket in advance. The latter constitutes a contract, whereas the former does not. If the contract had a term along the lines of "we can refuse admission to a ticket holder for any reason" (and I realise that a lot of tickets have similar terms), how likely is that to really be upheld? It's essentially giving the event organisers the unilateral right to revoke a contract without penalty or refund for any cause. I can't ever remember a ticket extending similar rights of revocation to the purchaser - if you no longer wanted to go to an event, you wouldn't be entitled to any refund. The National Consumer Agency cracked down on a lot of the waste collectors last year for unfair terms in contracts, that gave the company such rights (revocation without penalty), but not the consumers (a penalty would apply). I think that there'd be an argument in these cases, that a universal right to refuse admission for a pre-paid ticket holder would be of a similar unfair nature. (See on the NCA website: an example of an unfair term = "unfair cancellation clauses".

Well, that would be the theory, at least. In practice, the event organiser probably wouldn't say that they refused you for no reason, they would probably say that they felt the person was being intimidating and violent or was intoxicated to a dangerous level. I would think that a lot of cases where a person is denied admission, it is for genuine reasons, so this would probably be accepted on the face of it. The person refused admission would have to show that the refusal was not for a valid reason and was thus in breach of the contract. That would probably be difficult enough to prove, so it could be the word of a hired, qualified and registered security professional versus the patron.

Paz-CCFC wrote: »

I'd see a distinction between an ordinary night out at a pub where you don't have a ticket and an even like a concert, where you buy your ticket in advance. The latter constitutes a contract, whereas the former does not. If the contract had a term along the lines of "we can refuse admission to a ticket holder for any reason" (and I realise that a lot of tickets have similar terms), how likely is that to really be upheld? It's essentially giving the event organisers the unilateral right to revoke a contract without penalty or refund for any cause. I can't ever remember a ticket extending similar rights of revocation to the purchaser - if you no longer wanted to go to an event, you wouldn't be entitled to any refund. The National Consumer Agency cracked down on a lot of the waste collectors last year for unfair terms in contracts, that gave the company such rights (revocation without penalty), but not the consumers (a penalty would apply). I think that there'd be an argument in these cases, that a universal right to refuse admission for a pre-paid ticket holder would be of a similar unfair nature. (See on the NCA website: an example of an unfair term = "unfair cancellation clauses".

Well, that would be the theory, at least. In practice, the event organiser probably wouldn't say that they refused you for no reason, they would probably say that they felt the person was being intimidating and violent or was intoxicated to a dangerous level. I would think that a lot of cases where a person is denied admission, it is for genuine reasons, so this would probably be accepted on the face of it. The person refused admission would have to show that the refusal was not for a valid reason and was thus in breach of the contract. That would probably be difficult enough to prove, so it could be the word of a hired, qualified and registered security professional versus the patron.

234 wrote: »

The above is correct. Tickets constitute contractual licences. If you are refused admission this may be breach of contract. However, the revocation of the licence is valid so at the door you don't have any right if entry, just a claim in damages.

So if you're refused from a gig for which you have bought tickets before hand can you claim for non completion on their part and get a refund?

234 wrote: »

The above is correct. Tickets constitute contractual licences. If you are refused admission this may be breach of contract. However, the revocation of the licence is valid so at the door you don't have any right if entry, just a claim in damages.

In Hurst v. Picture Theatres, a person with a valid ticket was removed, as they thought he didn't have one. It was held to be a breach of contract and assault. As far as I remember, one of the judges also said that if a judge happened to be sitting next to him, he could have granted an injunction against his removal on the spot. If this is the case, I'd think that something similar could be done to prevent you from being refused entry. But, again, the practicalities of not always having a judge queuing behind you apply.