BBC News
ReutersDozens of Oasis fans who believed they had bought a private box for Saturday’s concert in Cardiff say they have paid hundreds of pounds for tickets they never received.
Multiple victims told BBC Wales they were left “gutted” and “angry” after paying Pembrokeshire-based business owner David Gray for tickets which seemingly never existed.
They allege Mr Gray may have left as many as 100 people without tickets.
BBC Wales has made multiple attempts to contact Mr Gray, but he has been unavailable for comment.
Dyfed-Powys Police said it was investigating reports of a ticket scam, but did not make direct reference to Mr Gray.
Neil Stephens from Crumlin, Caerphilly, paid £500 for tickets for himself and his wife, who he said was “inconsolable”.
“My wife, Hannah, is literally the world’s biggest Oasis fan,” he said.
“I had a call from my friend who said he knew somebody with a box and asked if we would be interested.
“He said it was a gentleman called David Gray. He’s a client of the Principality Stadium and has held many corporate events there.
“I’ve got friends who’d been to the Foo Fighters and the rugby, all as a guest of Mr David Gray.
“There were no alarm bells. There was no reason to disbelieve it, there really wasn’t.”
Mr Stephens said after Mr Gray confirmed their tickets last summer, it was only about a week before the concert that concerns began to emerge.
The day before the gig, Mr Stephens and his friend decided to drive to The Speculation Inn near Pembroke, a pub owned and run by Mr Gray’s family, to confront him.
“I introduced myself and he told me the issue was with his mobile phone, which he said was the phone which contained all of the tickets,” said Mr Stephens.
“He actually took a call during our time in the pub from a guy flying in from Gibraltar for the gig.
“He said that he would meet us outside gate three at 4:30pm and he would sort it out.”
‘It just makes me feel sick’
Mark Bonnici from Machen, Caerphilly, also said he had no reason not to trust Mr Gray, whom he said he had known for years.
He paid £1,200 for four tickets and said the experience had left him feeling “sick”.
Mr Gray had previously offered him hospitality tickets for the rugby, which he went to without issues.
When he asked him if he was interested in Oasis tickets, Mr Bonnici said yes and transferred the money.
“He said his phone was playing up and he couldn’t transfer the tickets,” Mr Bonnici said.
Like Mr Stephens, he was told to meet Mr Gray outside gate three of the stadium.
“There was no sign of him and his phone has been switched off ever since,” he said.
Mr Stephens decided to call the hospitality account manager for the Principality Stadium on the Saturday morning, while on his way into Cardiff to try to find out whether his tickets were genuine.
“He broke the rather unfortunate news that the booking didn’t exist in his name,” he said.
The WRU has been asked whether or not Mr Gray has ever held a box at the Principality Stadium.
“I was annoyed, my wife was inconsolable. She was so looking forward to this,” said Mr Stephens.
“As the day unfolded, it became very clear through a series of Facebook posts that not only did he sell 33 seats for the one box, he sold it over and over and over.
“The last count as of this (Monday) morning was 87 tickets. A lot of very angry people”.
Mr Bonnici also said it only became clear many others had been affected after his daughter posted on social media and contacted hospitality at the Principality Stadium.
Large groups of other people had been waiting for their tickets in the same location, he said.
“I’m probably more disappointed than anything,” he said. “This is someone I know, I’ve known for years.”
Mr Stephens claimed that after the unprecedented demand for Oasis tickets led to significant price rises last summer, Mr Gray increased the prices he was charging to between £900 and £1,000 per ticket.
He said he believed that overall, fans had lost out to the tune of “tens and tens of thousands of pounds”.
“I think the biggest issue is, for all of these fans, they didn’t get to see Oasis”, he said.
“And because it’s sold out, they won’t get to see Oasis.
“It’s more that than the money for me”.
Mr Stephens and his wife remain determined to get to an Oasis concert this year and have booked tickets to see the Gallagher brothers on the US leg of their tour in Los Angeles.
“Hopefully these ones are genuine,” he said.