Distraught couple travelled 150 miles to see 50 Cent at the O2 to be turned away at door and find out they had been scammed

By Calum Fraser

A couple are distraught after they travelled 150 miles to see 50 Cent but were turned away at the gates.

Pippa Jones and Mitchell Fry left Cardiff on Thursday morning with tickets to see 50 Cent at the O2 in Greenwich.

But when they arrived, two-and-a-half hours later, they were sent from one queue to the next before a security guard wordlessly pointed to a sheet of paper telling them that the tickets they had bought on ticket touting site Viagogo, were invalid.

Sales Manager Pippa, 26, said: “I just burst into tears. We were so disappointed and gutted we didn’t know what to do.

“The security woman looked nervous when she was telling us. She said there was just under 1000 people who’d been scammed. I felt a bit sorry for her because there were a lot of angry people.”

The couple had received a call earlier in the day and an email telling them that the tickets were legitimate.

Personal trainer Mitchell, 36, had taken a day off work for the show. He had bought the tickets as a gift to his girlfriend.

Pippa said: “He apologised to me after, I think he felt bad. Then I was apologising to him, because I felt bad. There was no way we could fight our point. We had to just accept it and leave.

“We’re both huge fans and it would have been such a great night. Hopefully we can get some kind of compensation.”

They’re thinking of reporting the incident to the police.

50 Cent came to the UK this month to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album and performed shows in Manchester, Birmingham and London.

A spokesman for Viagogo said: “All tickets sold on viagogo’s platform are genuine tickets. If a customer has any problems, we urge them to contact us immediately on our event day hotline. We are often able to find replacement tickets right away, and in the rare instances we are not able to, customers receive a full refund.”