Events promoter Denis Desmond's management company was fined £300 yesterday for failing to put booking fee and credit card charges into advertisements for a rock concert.
In the first prosecution under the 1997 Consumer Information (Advertisements for Concerts or Theatre Performances) Order, MCD Management Services Ltd admitted the offence and was ordered to pay £500 court costs. The order requires newspaper advertisements to state fees, in amounts or percentages, additional to admission charges.
Dublin District Court heard the prosecution followed a complaint from a member of the public who found her daughter had been charged £10.90 extra for using a credit card to book two tickets for The Verve concert in Slane last year.
Counsel Ms Emily Egan said it related to two advertisements in The Irish Times and another in the Evening Herald last June. Tickets cost £29.50 and while the advertisement stated "plus booking fee", there was no amount or percentage charge given and the credit card charge was not included. Mr Philip Duggan, Consumer Affairs inspector, said Mrs Elizabeth Neary found her daughter was charged £69.90 when she booked two tickets by phone. It consisted of £2.50 booking charge for each ticket plus £2.95 - also on each ticket - for using the credit card. Mr Duggan said the advertisements were sent directly to the newspapers by the promoters.
Ms Siobhan Hayes, solicitor for MCD, said the breaches were due to an oversight and since then all further advertisements had complied with the law.
Judge James McDonnell said he took a very serious view of the offence because these concerts appealed to teenagers who would make a large number of bookings using their parents' credit cards. This created an "uncertain liability" for parents. Mr Desmond was a well-known promoter and should have been aware of the law, he said.
Judge McDonnell imposed a fine of £300 for one of the advertisements, took a second into account and struck out a summons relating to the third.
The company is to appeal the judgment.