Britain said on Wednesday that it would ban the resale of tickets to concerts, sport and other live events for profit, disrupting ticket touts and the platforms that benefit from their activities.

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said touts were ripping off fans by using bots to snap up batches of tickets for coveted shows and reselling them at sky-high prices.

“Our new proposals will shut down the touts’ racket and make world-class music, comedy, theatre and sport affordable for everyone,” she said, after the government had promised action.

Tickets for tours by Harry Styles, Taylor Swift, Oasis and others have been offered on resale sites for hugely inflated prices minutes after they sell out.

Touts use sophisticated automated “bots” to beat online queues, the government said.

Shares in US company StubHub, the owner of resale site Viagogo, fell 14 per cent on Monday after the plan was reported.