A YOUNGISH acquaintance of mine took his seat for the historic reunion concert of aging rockers Led Zeppelin at the O2 Arena on Monday night thanks to a cheeky phone call.

More than a million people from across the world applied for the 18,000 tickets to see Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham, son of their late drummer John Bonham, play at the converted Millennium Dome.

Despite an unprecedented demand for the hottest tickets of the year, one unsuccessful applicant decided to chance his arm with a Saturday morning phone call.

“No, sir,” replied the man in the box office. “All tickets were distributed through a ballot…oh, hang on, we do have one.”

He paid with a credit card and was given a reference number.

When he arrived to pick up his ticket on Monday, he was asked for his photo ID which the other 17,999 had been requested by letter to bring.

He explained that he had not received a letter as he bought the prized ticket over the phone two days ago.

“I’m sorry sir, that couldn’t have happened; all tickets were distributed by lottery.”

But I have a reference number insisted my friend, and demanded to see the supervisor who repeated: “I’m sorry sir, that couldn’t have happened...”

After working his way through Customer Services - “I’m sorry sir, that couldn’t have happened...” - and a receptionist - “I’m sorry sir, that couldn’t have happened...” - he found himself in the office of the personal assistant to the O2 chief executive, where promoter Harvey Goldsmith and various assorted rock stars were milling around.

The PA agreed to punch the reference number into the computer and verified the story but still insisted on the photo ID. My friend eventually took his £125 seat after a faxed copy of his passport was sent through by his wife who started the phone call as a novice on the scanner and ended as an expert.

And because he did not know about the security measures - which included the original credit card used for payment and an armband that he was only able to remove with a knife when he returned home - he had arrived in London relatively late and was able to park near the exit and make a quick getaway.