Scammers sabotage trip to Champions League for Omagh family

A LOCAL father has spoken out against ‘football ticket scammers’ after a recent trip to Liverpool to watch his family’s favourite club ended in tears.

When Decy McGirr, along with his wife Edel, youngest son, Seth, and eldest son, Jack, arrived in Merseyside a few weeks ago to watch Liverpool take on Real Madrid, their dreams of ‘the perfect family holiday’ soon fell apart when the man they had paid £280 failed to send them their tickets to the match.

“My youngest boy, Seth is only 12-years-old and he was absolutely heartbroken,” said Decy. “Watching him walk away from Anfield [Liverpool’s stadium] crying his heart out was really tough. And the tears kept going when we got back to the hotel. It was awful.”

Decy and his family had procured the tickets from what they had believed to be a reliable source.

“A neighbour of mine knew a guy in Belfast who had reliably been getting tickets off this guy in Liverpool for the last five years.

“Apparently,” said Decy, “he had not been let down once.”

But if that was true, there is a first for everything, and that first had come when the family were in Liverpool for the match.

“We spent the day walking around the city, but the closer it got the match, and us still having received zero tickets, I started to get worried,” said Decy.

And Decy’s anxiety proved warranted.

“When I rang the number I had, he kept saying he would send them through soon, but he never did,” said Decy. “We ended up running around Liverpool trying to find last-minute tickets to a Champions League game. That, for anyone who does not know, is all-but-impossible.”

However, they did manage to get one ticket, which meant Decy’s eldest son could attend the game.

“I was happy for him, but wee Seth was totally devastated,” he said. “I do not even know what advice I could give to others off the back of what we experienced, other than to highlight the importance of knowing your source.

“We have been offered two free tickets by a guy who said he has taken pity on us after seeing our story in the Liverpool Echo, but I am not sure.

“It is hard to trust people after you have been burned once,” said Decy. “However, for Seth’s sake, I do hope we can get to a game later in the season.”