Real Sociedad vs Manchester United

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http://mufclatest.com/gmp-confiscate-united-fans-ticket-at-sociedad-match/

A fellow Manchester United supporter contacted us regarding his treatment by Greater Manchester Police whilst travelling away to San Sebastién for United’s UEFA Champions League match with Real Sociedad last Wednesday. The supporter, who was with some friends had his ticket confiscated by the GMP officer, which seems unfair. Here is his account of what happened:

Myself and four mates arrived at the ground about 30 minutes prior to kick off.
We had issues getting into the Real Madrid game away earlier this year, due to the Spanish police, and as we arrived we were stood back from the entrance for the away fans. I pointed out to my mate that there were two rows of stewards checking tickets and that it seemed easy to get in the ground, unlike in Madrid.

As we started to make our way to the turnstile, I was tapped on the shoulder by two men who introduced themselves as plain clothes Greater Manchester Police officers, with identification. They told me that they had overheard my comments and had reason to believe that I was trying to enter the ground without a ticket.

They then advised me that I would not be able to get near to the turnstile without showing them a valid ticket. I then went into my wallet and opened it enough to make my ticket visible to the officer but did not take the ticket out of my wallet as I knew they would try to take it from me.

He then stated that I needed to take the ticket out of my wallet so that he could verify it was a valid ticket. I took the ticket out of my wallet but did not hand it to the officer. As I did this he snatched the ticket out of my hand.

I asked the officer to give me my ticket back and he advised that it was not my property but the property of Manchester United and that in order to get the ticket back I needed to show ID to him. I refused to show him any ID as he had taken my ticket my feeling was that he would also take my passport from me.

Arguing continued between us for a few minutes and after I refused to show ID he then said that the ticket needed to be checked before he would give it back to me. My mates moved on whilst I waited as they told me that if the check came back fine they would let me in the ground

At this point both officers moved behind the gates in front of the first line of stewards and the ticket was passed to another man who was stood with another female. A few minutes later all four moved towards me. The same officer that had initially taken the ticket explained that the other two people stood with him were plain clothes Basque police assisting them and that my ticket had come back as been registered to a Basque lady and that there was no way that I had collected my ticket from the Ticket Collection point. He said they were confiscating the ticket and that I needed to show them ID in order to have any chance to get into the game.

As I had collected my ticket from the Ticket Collection point earlier in the day I knew that the officer was lying so refused to give them ID as I felt threatened and thought that there would be further consequences such as bans or arrest if I did give him ID.

I argued my point for several minutes before eventually been moved on by Spanish police under the instructions of the GMP officers.
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That's disgusting. Be interesting to know if it was a com or whether they genuinely had GMP Badges. If it's the latter I hope he can ID them and they get their c'nuppins.
 
Plain clothed police officers at football grounds?

Is there a reason behind that? I'd have thought if there was anywhere you'd want uniformed police, it's at football.
 
The Neviller said:
Is he sure they were GMP officers? Sounds like they just got a free match ticket.
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Sounds like he got conned. You need your passport to pick up tickets, unless someone at the collection point handed him the wrong ticket there's no way you can end up with someone else ticket.
 
Red Issue seem to be saying that it was people dressing up to con people out of tickets.
 
The Neviller said:
Dressing up as plain clothes policemen? How do you do that then? Put a Police uniform on at home and then change out of it?
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Apparently you go up to someone who looks daft enough to believe you and say 'Hi, I'm a plain-clothes policeman.'

'Daft' is a joke, of course. If that is what happened then it was an incredibly shitty thing to do, and not a difficult con to fall for either. It's not an easy thing to actually demand ID from a cop, and who really knows what a real police badge looks like anyway? There's a reason impersonating a copper is such a serious crime.
 
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