eBay forced to pull Live 8 tickets

eBay UK has banned the sale of Live 8 tickets after public outrage and Bob Geldof's strong criticism of the auction site.

Geldof, the Live 8 organiser, called for a worldwide boycott of eBay describing the site as an "electronic pimp".

Hundreds of pairs of tickets -won in the text lottery for the July concerts- were being advertised on the site, attracting bids of several thousand British pounds each.

Earlier in the week eBay had refused to ban the Live 8 auctions claiming that under British law the reselling of charity tickets is not illegal.

After eBay's retraction and announcement on Tuesday night, Geldof told the media: "It was a sort of example of corporate arrogance that it thought it could operate outside the morality of its audience. I am glad it's stopped and well done for taking them down but it was despicable and they should have thought about it before they did this."

Live 8 will feature performances by Pink Floyd, The Who, Paul McCartney, U2, Sting and Velvet Revolver.