The great FA Cup Final ticket fiasco

May 5 2008 by Jessica Flynn, South Wales Echo

DOZENS of Bluebirds fans have held a protest outside a Royal Mail depot over their missing FA Cup final tickets.

The 40 demonstrators protested outside the Royal Mail sorting office on Penarth Road, Cardiff, yesterday.

The tickets for the FA Cup final against Portsmouth on May 17 – the first final to feature Cardiff City for 81 years – all apparently went missing on route to Cardiff City fans in Maesteg.

Supporter for 21 years Matthew Jones, 29, along with friends Chris Davies, Mick Puleio, Hugh Jones, James Davies, Ian Pride, David Harris and Andrew Davies were among those affected.

Matthew said: “It’s ironic that all the missing tickets belong to people from Maesteg. Most know each other. All we care about is going to the game but I’m worried we will get a lesser value ticket and not the ones we paid for.

“It’s all very well the Royal Mail saying we will get tickets but until they are in our hands we can’t rest.”

The problem was first raised by fan Steve Maddern in Saturday’s Echo. But it wasn’t until friends and fellow supporters contacted him that he realised his case – in which four £95 tickets went missing while being sent via recorded delivery – wasn’t a one-off.

Paul Kelly, Royal Mail area general manager for South Wales, said: “We have launched a full investigation, involving our own internal security team, to establish exactly how these tickets went missing. We will also involve the police if appropriate.

“We are also working closely with Cardiff City Football Club to ensure that these fans, who are also our customers, get to the game on Saturday, May 17.”

Steve said: “At the demo we met with a spokesman from the Royal Mail. We have to wait until tomorrow before we’ll hear any more or whether the FA will print tickets with new bar codes. So hopefully we’ll have some news tomorrow but we’re not happy.”

jessica.flynn@mediawales.co.uk