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Football

01st Jun 2019

GoCompare man scammed out thousands of pounds for Champions League final tickets

Wayne Farry

He is best known for appearing as an opera singer on GoCompare adverts

Radio Wales presenter Wynne Evans has claimed that he paid thousands of pounds for tickets for Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur but never received them.

Evans, a lifelong Spurs fan who is best known for appearing as opera singer Gio Compario in GoCompare advertisements over the past decade, purchased a pair of tickets using an online agency.

He believes that the site, which sold him the tickets before stating that they were not available, resold them after realising they could make more money on them.

“My 14-year-old son was distraught and heaven knows how many other fans they’ve mugged off,” he told the BBC.

“After I paid up, the agency emailed me to say they were not able to fulfil my order.

“It looks like they sold the tickets to me then resold them when they realised they could get a lot more for them.”

Despite losing out on what he said was more than £7,000, Evans went ahead and bought another – real – pair of tickets so that he and his son could still go to the match at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano.

“I was gutted but it hasn’t put me off going – there’s no way I would miss this match.

“I’ve been a Spurs fan since I was seven so it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see my team in the Champions League final.”

A number of scams have been reported regarding Champions League final tickets, with police in Madrid warning fans on Saturday of roving gangs posing as stewards looking to steal tickets from fans.