Gosport’s MP Dame Caroline Dinenage has criticised dynamic ticket pricing after Oasis fans saw ticket prices rise while waiting in an online queue to buy them.  

The Conservative MP admitted to being one of the 14 million people from 158 countries logged on to a digital queue to buy tickets to the Oasis Live 25 reunion tour on August 31.

Once through the portal, fans were given a few minutes to decide whether to buy at the inflated prices.

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Speaking during a debate in parliament, she said: “Someone compared the ticket purchase after such a long wait to the dopamine rush of a gambler. The £150 to £400 price increase meant that the transaction was no longer a choice, but more of an impulse buy.

“The soundtrack to our youth has morphed into a conversation about exploitative practices in the music industry that hurt fans and the grassroots sector.”

Watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating the debacle, deciding if fans were given “clear and timely information” about pricing in the first place.

During the debate, she disputed whether dynamic pricing has a place and is an acceptable way forward in the music industry sector. 

She said: “The dynamic pricing mechanism employed by Oasis, their promoters and management via Ticketmaster served to increase the price of tickets in line with demand, but in reality, it resulted in a kind of lucky dip game in which the price got worse and worse by no clear mechanism except the secret and opaque rules of a computer algorithm in the hands of Ticketmaster.”

She also highlighted the importance of grassroots music venues but said of the 34 venues Oasis played on their first tour in 1994, only 11 still exist. 

Chris Bryant, minister for creative industries, arts and tourism, said: “Live events are really important to the British creative economy, and to the whole economy in the UK. Live music is really important to our economy as 200,000 people worked in the industry last year.”

The Prime Minister said that the Government is committed to putting fans at the heart of music and ending extortionate resales and will be launching a new consultation in the autumn which includes how to protect consumers.

On social media Ms Dinenage MP said: “It wasn’t right that @oasis fans waited up to 10 hours only to be greeted with ticket prices far and above what they were expecting.”