Garden enthusiasts are being charged up to £300 for black market tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show — six times their face value — as touts cash in on the demand for the horticultural showpiece.
All 157,000 tickets for the event sold out in record time and organisers have warned people not to buy tickets off the internet.
The show’s director Stephen Bennett said: “Chelsea tickets have been sold out for a month, earlier than ever before.
“But we would not advise people to buy tickets from unofficial sources. We would advocate extreme caution to anyone buying tickets off the internet.
“Ticket touting and forgery is a big industry and this is an issue for all events.”
The show runs from May 22-26, with the Royal Horticultural Society charging £45 for an all-day pass. But one all-day ticket for May 22 is being offered on eBay at £315, while internet ticket sites such as World Ticket Shop are offering passes for up to £247.75 each.
Viagogo.com is charging up to £237.91 and getmein.com is quoting up to £231.57.
Mr Bennett said the surge in interest had come despite the poor weather and the difficult economic conditions.
He told Horticulture Week: “Nurseries and garden centres are having a tough time. March, April and May are the three big months but most people have lost two of those three.
“But in some ways we’re enjoying the benefit of the double dip recession because people are staying in the UK rather than travelling abroad and people are turning to their gardens as soon as the weather is fine.”
A number of celebrity guests are expected to attend the show, including Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow.
