Marching orders for Tattoo touts

• Members of the Gold Brothers retail empire strongly deny touting and insist they are doing nothing wrong by offering cash for spare Tattoo tickets Picture: Dan Phillips

Officers have already issued six formal warnings to touts and ordered the removal of placards and posters seeking spare tickets.

Organisers of the event, a complete sell-out for the last 11 years, have hit out at unofficial traders after discovering they are buying up tickets on the street and reselling them at a higher price.

Police have warned touts they are prepared to arrest anyone asking over the odds for tickets in the run-up to performances following complaints from the Tattoo.

The Tattoo has warned it is prepared to cancel any tickets which it discovers are being sold on the street after taking previous action over ebay purchases.

The Scotsman has learned touts are under-cutting the Tattoo box office, which takes a 25 per cent "handling fee" off any refunds given for unwanted tickets.

Some traders have been mingling with theatre companies and street performers by flyposting in the Royal Mile offers to buy up spare tickets.

A reporter from The Scotsman was ushered from the Lawnmarket to meet a trader at a nearby cafe and offered four top-priced tickets for the event. The reporter was told tickets were available for every day of the Tattoo's run.

Hundreds of pounds were changing hands just yards from police officers and security guards when The Scotsman visited the Lawnmarket before two separate performances.

We witnessed angry exchanges between another trader and security staff at the Tattoo who warned that duplicate tickets may already have been issued for seats they are trying to sell.

Although the event has been declared a complete sell-out for the 12th year in a row, many travel firms and tour parties are left with unwanted tickets at the 11th hour.

A leading figure in the Gold Brothers retail empire, best known for its chain of "tartan stores" in the city centre, has admitted being warned by the police for openly touting but insists he is doing nothing wrong. However he has admitted under-cutting the Tattoo Office, which charges a 25 per cent administration fee for the return of any unwanted tickets.

Malap Singh, one of three brothers who head up the company, told a Scotsman reporter on the Lawnmarket: "We have a lot of shops and a lot of connections with various apartments in the Royal Mile.

"We will buy any spare tickets and sell them on. There is huge demand for them. The event is a sell-out and it's an easy way to get a ticket."

Mr Singh said later: "I have been buying and selling tickets, because there are a lot of people looking for them. A lot of my contacts are phoning up asking for them.

"The Tattoo asks for 25 per cent back for unwanted tickets and you have to go down and wait in a long queue.

"I'm not asking for any more than the ticket price, as that would be ticket touting. The police have warned me about that, and told me not to carry a placard around, but there are lots of people selling tickets every night."

A Tattoo spokesman said: "It is very much a case of buyer beware with this kind of thing.

"Our terms and conditions make it clear that you are not allowed to resell or offer for resale any tickets and that the holder of a ticket may be refused entry."

A spokesman for Lothian and Borders Police said: "We can confirm that six people have been issued with formal warnings about ticket touting under Section 55 of the Civic Government Scotland Act 1982."