Music festival fans ‘conned’ out of £1000 for fake VIP wristbands

MUSIC fans were allegedly conned out of nearly £1000 for fake VIP passes to the T in the Park festival.

A man appeared in court yesterday accused of selling wristbands, claiming they offered entry to the VIP area.

Paul Reidy, 23, allegedly turned up at the site entrance and handed over the fake passes in exchange for £900 in cash.

More than 85,000 fans turned up each day at the festival in Balado, near Perth, between Friday and Sunday, with headline acts including the Stone Roses, Noel Gallagher and Snow Patrol.

Reidy, from Birniehill Crescent, Bathgate, West Lothian, is alleged to have formed a fraudulent scheme to sell the wristbands between 
February 1 and July 6 this year. It is alleged that he induced Shona Cumming, Sharon Anderson and John Devine to pay him £900 for the wristbands for the festival’s VIP area.

The charge alleges that Reidy arrived at the festival site in Kinross and pretended to be employed by Security Scotland when handing over the 
wristbands.

He is alleged to have then allowed the trio entry to the festival, despite his being on bail from both Hamilton and Glasgow Sheriff Courts at the time.

Reidy, who was granted bail on condition he does not approach any of the alleged victims, denied the charge and will go on trial at Perth Sheriff Court in October this year.

Several other people appeared from custody at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday to face charges linked to the weekend’s music festival.

Police at the festival had earlier said there had been a “positive attitude” and that drugs offences accounted for about three-quarters of all crime.

Superintendent Rick Dunkerley, event commander, said: “I think it’s fair to say that the conditions have been challenging for them but they have refused to let anything dampen their enthusiasm. Their attitude has been terrific and has ensured that we are all enjoying another excellent T in the Park festival.

“Our traditional community engagement style of policing, complemented by a no-nonsense approach to searching for illegal drugs has led to a small rise in the number of arrests as compared to the same time last year, as well as an increase in detection rates.”