I WAS in a hotel lobby in Paris with a precious ticket for the Champions League Final nestled in my pocket when a fellow I knew rushed up to me.

"I've just been offered £1,000 for my ticket by a bloke in the lift," he blurted out.

"Is he still there?" I asked. He was and just for a nano-second But it was my Arsenal versus Barcelona ticket and £1,000 was nothing like enough to tempt me. I wouldn't have parted with it for a mortgage. Even if I'd known we were going to lose. I just hid it to keep it safe.

The problem of tickets, particularly for music events, being bought and flogged on by touts has now become a hot one thanks to so many being purchased online.

Nothing is more likely to make, for example, an Arctic Monkeys fan go ape than discovering that the only tickets available for a gig are being sold for a wodge more than he or she can afford. The artists and promoters aren't happy either because they won't get a penny of the marked-up price.

That, however, is a price of a free market economy. If you own something that others desire, why shouldn't you supply it at the price that someone's willing to pay?

The problem, however, isn't the individual fan who wants to flog his ticket, it is that there are no controls to stop people getting ripped off. And, of course, ordinary fans can get priced out.

Today it is illegal for touting to take place at football matches, for reasons of safety. So why should touts be allowed to trade at concerts? It's time the law was changed.

And me? There's one ticket I'd happily sell at an inflated price to another person.

All those who want to buy my next parking ticket, please form an orderly queue.