Rock giants Iron Maiden have been commended by an MP over their efforts to clamp down on online ticket touts.
The British band introduced a number of measures following their UK tour in 2011 when more than 6000 tickets appeared at inflated prices on secondary platforms.
Ahead of their The Book Of Souls tour, which starts in May, the rock group successfully lobbied secondary platforms to de-list tickets for the tour leading to a 95 per cent drop in online touting for their gigs.
Sites including Get Me In and Seatwave agreed not to resell Iron Maiden tickets. However Viagogo, who last month was criticised for profiting from a cancer charity concert, listed 207 tickets to the band's UK tour after they initially went on sale last year.
Of those 207 tickets, most were identified as bogus while the remainder have been cancelled , the band's team said.
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The east London-formed band also introduced a paperless ticketing policy and require the purchaser's credit card and ID on entry to a concert.
Iron Maiden were praised for their efforts by Conservative MP Nigel Adams who sits on the Culture, Media, and Sport Select Committee and chairs the All-Parliamentary Group on Music.
"Iron Maiden and their management should be commended for their innovative approach to tackling touts," he said.
"For too long, genuine fans have been fleeced by professional, well organised and greedy large-scale touts who use secondary ticketing sites to profiteer."
Iron Maiden's manager, Rod Smallwood, said they were "delighted" the measures had deterred touts and counterfeiters.
