Sydney NYE ticket bungle after thousands given tickets to prime position by mistake

Transport for NSW has apologised to thousands of people who were mistakenly told they had won tickets to watch the Sydney New Years’ Eve fireworks show from the Cahill Expressway near the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Every year, about 10,000 people can watch the world-famous fireworks show from the premium location, with people having to enter a ballot to secure a spot, in an event called NYE on the Cahill Expressway.

There were 350 spots left to fill, with winners set to be notified online; however, Transport for NSW, who organises the event, admitted that an error was made that instead told 3000 people they had won the ballot.

This meant that when thousands of people logged on to a portal to claim their prize, they were instead told their tickets were not available.

Josh Murray, Secretary of Transport for NSW spoke to 2GB this morning to report the mistake and apologise to those impacted.

“The good news is we did have 10,000 winners; the bad news is Transport [for NSW] has disappointed around 3000 people who were told that they could attend, and then when they went to log on and claim the tickets, they've then been told that there's none left,” Murphy said on Thursday.

“I want to apologise for that. We’ve let people down on what should have been a very exciting process of getting that email.”

Murphy said investigations were underway to uncover how a message meant for only 350 people was sent out to thousands, but he said it was likely to have been human error.

“On Tuesday morning those last 350 invitations were due to go out, someone's hit the button, and it's gone to 3000,” he said.

“It's a bit like when you're thinking about emailing something about your boss and you send the email to your boss instead.

“There was some soul-searching and some double-checking of the numbers, but once we started contacting people, we knew that we'd stuffed it up.”

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He explained the final 350 tickets that were being allocated were made available because they had been returned by people who said they could no longer go.

Murphy said Transport for NSW had been in touch with the people who received the message in error, and said that all impacted people would get priority access for next years’ event.

“New Year’s Eve on the Cahill is a unique and incredibly popular event and I will ensure we work closely with event organisers to understand how this slip-up occurred and to ensure we are more careful with notifications,” Murphy said in a statement to nine.com.au

"This isn’t just about free tickets. It’s the excitement of telling your family and friends and looking forward to a night out together. We apologise for the disappointment we caused."

NYE on the Cahill Expressway was first held in 2000, and is billed as a free, family-friendly event that allows people to watch both the 9.30pm and midnight fireworks shows over Sydney Harbour on New Years’ Eve.

The celebrations in Sydney Harbour are the largest in Australia and one of the most famous in the world, with more than one million people gathering in the harbour to watch the fireworks display, which has its main choreography on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.