Fans of Rod Stewart are forking out up to £300 for a ticket to his first Brighton gig in almost 18 years – despite official tickets still being available for a fraction of the price.

The tickets for the gig at the American Express Community Stadium are being sold at almost six times the £55 price tag of official sellers.

Promoters are urging music fans to buy tickets from official sources but warned that it was “virtually impossible” to stamp out people selling on their tickets online.

Tickets for the gig, which will see Stewart become only the second act to play a major gig on the Amex pitch on Friday June 13, are being sold on eBay and Gumtree for up to £300.

One Gumtree seller is looking for £600 for two tickets to the gig which will see the veteran Scottish rocker play in Brighton for the first time since November 1996.

Peter Taylor, director of promoters Cuffe & Taylor, said: “Tickets are currently on sale and we would urge fans to buy their tickets from the official sources as soon as possible.

“As with any major concert like this, tickets sometimes appear on secondary sites.

“We do all we can to prevent secondary ticketing, such as random ID checks, but it is virtually impossible to stamp it out completely.

“Tickets have sold very well over the Christmas period and they continue to sell well so we are advising people to buy their tickets now.”

Hove MP Mike Weatherley, who worked in the music business before moving into politics, is campaigning for an honest and transparent ticket purchasing process.

He has joined other MPs in founding the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Ticket Abuse.

He said: “With such high prices, my concern is that the real fans miss out. That’s why I am campaigning in Parliament for musicians’ wishes to be respected when it comes to ticketing, similar to what happened at the Olympics.

“If an artist wants to sell at a certain price so that, for example, their younger fans can afford to come then ticket resale should be capped at that level.”

To buy tickets from the official site visit www.ticketline.co.uk/Rod2014 or call Ticketline on 0844 888 9991.