a ruined day out
I was going to a daytime outdoor festival within London with big name DJs headlining it. My girlfriend (now wife) and her friend had spare tickets as they'd won some competition for VIP or something. My girlfriends friend was being a royal pain in the arse, accusing me of being slow and late when she was the one who made them an hour late.

One of their friends who had met up before hand, not planning on going in decided to buy all 3 of their spare tickets. Because of this 'friend' annoying everyone I decided to placate her and say that I'll go with their friend to the cash machine for the cash for the tickets and we'll meet them inside the festival. As we left them I turned to this friend of a friend I didn't know to confirm the price and suddenly a police van stopped across the road and this burly sergeant ran over barking questions at us about what I was selling, blah blah blah.
I told the honest truth that my girlfriend and friend had gone in and I was going with their friend to sell their tickets. The police sergeant was more intent on telling me what he thought had happened than listening to me and refused to call up my girlfriend to corroborate my story.

I then was told I was being arrested for ticket touting and taken off to their van and within a few minutes the friend of a friend was arrested for possession, which apparently automatically meant that I was a suspect for that as well. However at no point was I handcuffed or read my rights.

An hour later and we were at the police control point for the event, they searched me and found nowt, confiscated the 3 spare tickets and my own and sent me home.

On getting home I found out that it was in no way illegal to ticket tout at a music event to top the bad treatment and bullheadedness of the police sergeant. I put in a call to the police complaints commision, met the Superintendent for police control at the event the following monday, where I presented him a letter complaining about my treatment and that I was unlawfully detained and treated like a common criminal when I'd done nothing illegal at all.

9 months later the police sergeant got a talking to (and from what was read to him it wasn't harsh enough) and I got a compensation cheque which covered the tickets price and a bit more, which was nice..............
(The Director of Directing, Sun 8 May 2011, 11:34, 2 replies)

Anyone who uses the phrase "treated like a common criminal,"
really should be a candidate for a swift trip down the stairs.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Sun 8 May 2011, 16:08, closed)

well I wasn't doing anything illegal
and I was treated like shit, told to do as I was told or else and property confiscated from me unlawfully. It's a clichéd phrase but I feel justified in using it in this case
(The Director of Directing, Mon 9 May 2011, 13:10, closed)