Terminally ill man feels 'robbed' after Coronation Concert ticket ballot confusion

Kevin Martin planned to take his wife to the Coronation Concert for their wedding anniversary

A terminally ill man has said he's been "robbed" the chance to go to the Coronation Concert after receiving an email which appeared to suggest he had won a place to attend.

Kevin Martin, from Solihull, was emailed by Ticketmaster on Tuesday 26 April to say that he was one of 5,000 people to be successful in a ballot.

The email went on to say that he had three weeks to claim the tickets.

On the same day, Mr Martin had a hospital appointment and decided he would claim his tickets afterwards.

Three hours later, when he went to claim them, another email told him he had until noon the next day (April 27).

But, again when he clicked to claim them, he was told his tickets had gone.

Mr Martin had planned to take his wife for their 46th wedding anniversary.

He said he felt robbed.

He said: "I mean I almost felt like I've been robbed. To be told, I think it's being told you won the lottery and then someone saying you haven't.

"I was just really, really annoyed and then I started asking questions and looking around and little snippets started to appear and it seemed it had happened to others."

Members of the public were invited to apply via a ballot for a chance to receive free tickets to the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle on May 7.

The concert is one of the highlights of the Coronation weekend. Headline acts include Take That, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.

Many people have taken to social media to say they have also been affected and are now missing out.

A receptionist from Staffordshire said she is "livid" after paying £150 for a hotel in time for the Coronation Concert, only to find out that she could not get tickets for the event.

Una Driscoll, said that she has been “left out of pocket” after amending her hotel booking, which cannot be refunded, and said the ordeal has been “disgusting”.

Mr Martin had looked back at his emails to check he didn't make a mistake after reading online that there were other allocations but couldn't find any.

He said: "I've read this morning that there has actually been three tranches of these allocations of tickets and the first two allocations were absolutely guaranteed and apparently the third allocation was never guaranteed but none of that is stated in any of the emails again this morning."

A Ticketmaster spokesperson said that unclaimed tickets released on a first-come, first-served basis sold out "very quickly".

They said: "Everyone who was successful in the two main ballot rounds for the CoronationConcert was offered a guaranteed pair of tickets, provided they claimed them within three weeks.

"Today, any unclaimed tickets were released on a first-come, first-served basis to those who had previously applied to the ballot (and were unsuccessful).

"These inevitably went very quickly."