MUSIC fans hoping to head to the V Festival this summer have been left out in the cold by touts mass buying tickets and selling them on internet auction sites for huge profits, the EADT can reveal.

MUSIC fans hoping to head to the V Festival this summer have been left out in the cold by touts mass buying tickets and selling them on internet auction sites for huge profits, the EADT can reveal.

With rock's one time bad boys Oasis and the Scissor Sisters headlining the event in Chelmsford this summer, people knew they would not have long before the 2-day extravaganza sold out.

Organisers said the record speed of the sales last Friday was testament to the "promise of a live music experience".

However, within minutes of weekend camping tickets for the event – costing £110 – selling out, they were being placed on eBay leaving many fans upset the booking system had been abused.

By last night pairs of camping tickets were changing hands for as much as £500 - twice the price they were bought for.

Many individuals had as many as six pairs for sale on the site, while some were also on offer from ticket companies who had snapped them up for resale.

Unlike the Glastonbury festival in Somerset, V organizers do not require the buyers names on the tickets, leaving the door open for people to make massive profits from those desperate to get their hands on a pass.

EADT reader, Kevin Armstrong, was one many to miss out, leaving his 14-year-old son without the birthday present he had been promised.

Mr Armstrong, of Ipswich, said: "It is clear that there has been massive bulk purchasing of V Festival tickets by dealers who are immediately offering tickets on eBay at huge profit to themselves.

"I think this black market has been created by a lack of proper control over internet purchasing of tickets.

"The result is that many thousands of local people will be unable to go unless they pay inflated black market prices. I had promised a ticket for my son Tom as a birthday present; we are just one example of many disappointed local people."

The festival, to be held on the weekend of August 20, has become more and more popular in the last 10 years, since it started out with headliners Paul Weller and Pulp.

No one from the V Festival or eBay was available for comment last night.