Multiple O2 Academy Brixton security guards reportedly took bribes to let people into shows without tickets

Yesterday (16 January) it was revealed that Lambeth councillors decided to suspend O2 Academy Brixton's licence for a further three months following a fatal crowd crush at Asake's December show that resulted in two deaths.

According to a new report by BBC File on 4, a security guard has revealed that other security guards regularly took bribes to get people without tickets into shows.

The security guard reportedly said that some people on his team would allow "a couple of hundred" people into venues in exchange for money, and their employer, AP Security, declined to comment.

As well as revealing that some security guards "made £1,000 cash" from getting people into the venues, the security guard said, "Our company knew what was going on and they knew the people who were doing it, and they did nothing about it."

When speaking about the fatal crowd crush at Asake's December show, the security guard revealed that 190 security team members were supposed to be on duty that night, but only 110 were present.

The security guard also explained how the bribes would work, saying, "They [some AP Security staff] will tell you a few things, [then you] go round the corner... give them a lot of cash and they will walk you straight in the front door."

According to the report, the bribes were happening at multiple venues, stadiums and festivals, and the amount of money accepted by the security guards depended on who was performing/playing.

BBC also spoke to an individual named Andre who managed to enter one of Fred again..'s shows at the Brixton venue the week before the crush, who said, "As soon as we got there, our tickets got scanned really, really, fast I would say fake scanned and the person just let us in. The person had the device that scans tickets and just used the flashlight on it, not the laser scan. It felt really organised and it felt that we weren't the only people that got in that way."