A government minister attacked internet auction site eBay today for failing to withdraw music festival tickets being traded on the website.

Music minister Shaun Woodward criticised the website owners after they refused to pull the free tickets for the BBC Big Weekend show which were being sold for about £50 each.

Mr Woodward has twice written to eBay calling for them to stop allowing the sales but the company has refused.

He said the firm was ignoring the terms and conditions laid down by the BBC by allowing the tickets to be resold.

Organisers introduced ID checks for festival-goers in a bid to combat touts but many sellers now offer fake identity paperwork to help buyers get through security.

A spokeswoman for Mr Woodward said: Not only is eBay ignoring the BBC's terms and conditions that these free tickets are not for resale, it is permitting people to engage in fraudulent activity by supplying and using ID to pass themselves off as someone else in order to gain entry to the Big Weekend."

Radio 1 held a ballot to give away 30,000 tickets to a huge two-day music festival to be held at Moor Park, Preston, this weekend.

Tens of thousands of fans applied for tickets during the one-week registration period.

Following eBay's decision Mr Woodward said he intended to meet representatives from the firm next week to negotiate an agreement over future ticket sales.

In a letters to the company, Mr Woodward said: "We strongly disagree with your decision not to suspend the listings for the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend event.

"We believe, given you are aware the BBC intends to impose strict ID requirements on entry to this event, consumers may well feel they have been misled if they buy tickets through eBay.

"This BBC event is free, funded by the licence fee. Many of the tickets are specifically intended to be available to people who live locally.

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