Woman left “devastated” after mistakenly buying wrong festival ticket – almost 200 miles away from where her friends were going

A WOMAN has been left “devastated” after mistakenly buying the wrong festival ticket – for a gig almost 200 miles away from where her friends were going.

Lydia Elizabeth was meant to head to Leeds Festival with pals last month after receiving cash from her late auntie, who she had cared for in the final years of her life.

However due to a mix-up, the 20-year-old mistakenly bought a £110 ticket for Reading Festival – sending her into a panic after she was duly made aware of her blunder by a colleague.

Video filmed by Lydia, from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, following her realisation of her mistake, shows her in tears as she shares the screenshot of the wrongly-purchased festival ticket in the background.

She sobs: “Can someone please explain if Leeds Festival or Reading is the same festival because I’ve got a ticket for Reading.

“My mates are saying it’s – their ticket says Leeds, I’m really confused, I’ve spent £110 on a ticket that I might not even be able to use.

“I’m having a mental breakdown in this car.”

She then pauses to try and withhold more tears as she says in a higher pitch: “I don’t know what to do.”

Lydia shared the clip to social media last month with the caption: “Someone please help me I’m having a breakdown, will they let me use the ticket?

“I bought the ticket after my auntie passed, my head’s a shed, just double checking as it’s in a few days. Why is this my life.”

The video has since received over 16,000 likes and more than 300 comments from users divided in their support of Lydia’s gaffe.

One user wrote: “Oh my God this happens to so many people. Reading weekend is sold out so someone might buy your ticket and Leeds weekend are still available.”

Another said: “Girl I have an extra Leeds ticket, literally, I can transfer it to you my friend bailed on me.”

A third quipped: “Nah you’ll be alright, Leeds and Reading are the same, just the 200 odd miles apart. Hope this helps.”

Another replied: “I don’t understand how anyone could possibly get this confused.”

A fifth said: “Do people not think to research before spending a large amount of money on things nowadays.”

Another joked: “Yeah you ain’t going with your mates.”

Speaking today Lydia said: “I’ve always wanted to go to Leeds Festival but unfortunately for the last two years I’ve been a carer for loved ones who unfortunately passed away in my arms.

“In June I was in hospital for three weeks as my auntie, who was like a grandma to me, was put on end-of-life care.

“She later passed away in my arms and on the same day she gave me the money to attend the festival.

“I found out that I got the wrong tickets when I was at a charity fundraising meeting.

“I do a lot of fundraising for charities in the community and I was telling the people in the meeting about my plans for the weekend and said ‘I’m off to Reading and Leeds festival on Friday’.

“One of the men said ‘What you mean Reading festival?’, he then continued to say it looks like you’re not going with your friends because Reading’s down south and Leeds is up here.

“The whole room was laughing at me saying ‘Looks like you’re taking a trip down to Reading’, and when I checked my phone, my heart sank as it was in fact a Reading ticket and not Leeds.

“I was absolutely devastated. My head was a mess when I bought them but I genuinely thought Reading and Leeds festival were the same festival as they advertise it at the same time.

“I was in bits as this was a gift from my late auntie, so I decided to make a TikTok video explaining what had happened.

“Everybody was taking the mick out of me, I thought my page was on private, but unfortunately it wasn’t and my video ended up going viral.

“I’m glad I’ve made the 300,000 people have a good laugh, this was just a genuine mistake and I was just so gutted.

“I obviously got the wrong ones. But by the hundreds of messages I have received I don’t think I’m the only one, they need to make it clearer.

“I explained to Ticketmaster what had happened and they were no help and said that it was not their problem, which I was devastated about as I’ve been through hell and back this year and all I wanted was to go to the festival.

“I fortunately enough was able to sell the ticket for half price and a family member gave me the rest to buy another one for Leeds – I was able to attend and seeing Imagine Dragons come on was amazing.

“Unfortunately, my night got worse as I lost my friends and had no phone reception so I had to take the journey on my own to get back home to Pontefract.

“It took me 45 minutes to get out of the crowds of Billie Eilish and then for the long journey home I felt unsafe and was just feeling lucky that I made it home in one piece.

“I don’t think I would go again but I’ll wait for someone to change my mind.”