TOUTS swooped to grab MICHAEL JACKSON tickets yesterday — then demanded up to £2,500 a pop just minutes after a ****-up left fuming fans EMPTY-HANDED.
Phone lines jammed and a website crashed as 1.5million people clamoured to snap up the first batch to go on sale for Jacko’s concerts at London’s O2 arena.
Last night he added 18 MORE shows to his ten-night run — amid fury at touts somehow getting their hands on tickets while desperate fans were left with just mega phone bills.
Outraged Rich Diment, 28 — among callers who swamped The Sun to blast the shambles — raged: “I’ve been a Michael Jackson fan all my life. It’s frustrating as well as a rip-off.”
The Bristol insurance worker was among O2 phone customers meant to have been given priority after registering and getting a special code for tickets that went on sale at 7am yesterday.
The rest will be offered to the general public tomorrow.
Rich phoned authorised seller Ticketmaster on the dot but got an automated message saying there were “problems”.
After also battling in vain to buy online he said: “I don’t want to pay a tout, but I may have to.”
Fed-up Matt Rice, 27, of Coventry, was left hanging on the phone for two hours — and was eventually cut off.
He then discovered all the tickets had gone.
The rail worker fumed: “It’s my only chance of ever seeing the King of Pop live.
“I wanted to take my wife Michelle. If I don’t get any when the rest go on sale I’ll have to fork out on the black market.”
Yesterday fan-to-fan online ticket exchange Seatwave was offering two tickets for £2,999.99 — while another seller was asking £5,000 for a pair.
Face value is between £50 and £75. A pair of tickets among the scores being offered on eBay were priced at £1,000.
One gloating tout declared: “I have bought these tickets from Ticketmaster this morning.
“Lots of people with pre-sale codes missed out.”
Ticketmaster blamed a “technical issue” for the chaos and said it was sorry.
Boss Chris Edmonds told how demand was “unprecedented”.
Meanwhile the 20,000-seat arena said: “We apologise.”
Jacko, 50, will earn £35million from his “This Is It” tour.
His London shows — which he says will be his last here — will now run from July 8 until September.
That is not fair