Comic Relief not the only beneficiary...

Britain's biggest ticket agencies stand to net hundreds of thousands of pounds from Peter Kay's charity Phoenix Nights revival.

The comeback is set to make millions for Comic Relief, with all the stars – including Paddy McGuinness, Dave Spikey and Neil Fitzmaurice – working for free.

But hefty booking and delivery fees paid by fans will continue to go to ticketing giants such as Ticketmaster, rather than the charity.

Two further dates were added to the run at the Manchester Arena this morning, bringing the total to 15. The venue is the largest indoor concert arena in Europe, with a maximum capacity of 21,000 meaning up to 315,000 tickets, priced between £35 and £60, will be available.

But fees incurred can ramp up the price. A single £35 bought from Eventim incurs a £6 booking fee and an unavoidable £2.50 delivery charge – even if the ticket is collected at the box office – hiking the price by almost 25 per cent.

If every ticket was sold this way, agencies would take more than £2.5million between them. Booking fees are even greater for the more expensive tickets, but delivery charges are per order rather than per ticket.

Ticketmaster, See Tickets and Gigs And Tours charge lower booking fees – between £3.50 to £5.50 depending on the original price of the ticket – plus £2.50 for delivery (£2.30 for Ticketmaster).

A Ticketmaster spokesperson confirmed that no share of their charges would be going to charity, saying: 'This is just set up as a normal event so no additional charity donations from the fees.'

Ticketmaster is part of the Live Nation corporation, which recently recorded £96million profits for the third quarter of 2014 for its global operations.

However SJM Concerts which operates the Gigs & Tours agency as well as promoting the Phoenix Nights gigs, said: 'A proportion of the agent's booking fees are being donated to the charity.'

The additional dates announced today are for February 14 and 15. Click here for tickets.

Eventim have not yet responded to a request for comment.

Published: 4 Dec 2014