THE ALL-ENGLAND Club has taken out an injunction against 18 people, to prevent them from selling tickets on e-Bay, the favoured site of touts and fans desperate to obtain seats for Wimbledon.

With dealers increasingly driven towards internet auction sites because of the firm line taken by the club and the police, officials are monitoring the website in the run-up to the event, which begins next Monday, and telling punters that they cannot resell any tickets except those marked “Debenture”.

The demand for tickets, some of which have been advertised at £400 for a £32 seat, has become so intense that there was even one case of the allocation of a wheelchair user being put on the e-Bay site.

Last month Chris Gorringe, the club’s chief executive, said: “The message is quite clear. Tickets obtained via the public ballot and the Lawn Tennis Association are for the use of the original purchasers and should not be transferred. People tempted to buy such tickets should be under no illusion that they will get in.” The exceptions are the 2,100 debenture seats on Centre Court.

Nick Bitel, the legal adviser to the club, said yesterday: “The club is passionate about getting the audience mix right. Reselling tickets to the corporate market, and so depriving people who should be going, is simply not right.”

Officials make spot checks on ticket-holders to verify if the individuals were originally allocated the seats. Many embarrassed, and invariably angry, spectators have been stopped at the gates, interviewed and then turned away without receiving any rebate.

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