A ticket resale website has been accused of raking in hundreds of pounds in booking fees from concert-goers in Kirklees.

Now Kirklees Citizens Advice and Law Centre has called for Swiss-based Viagogo to make their charges clearer when people book tickets online for events such as concerts, festivals and top football matches.

Advisers at the centre began investigating after a client at its Dewsbury office told how they had bought two tickets for a concert by singer Ed Sheeran at Manchester Arena for £324 – but were then slapped with £113 in VAT and booking fees.

Another client bought two tickets for £158 to see Jamiroquai and was charged an extra £112.

The caller said: “There should be either an ability to claim a refund or a set period in which no tickets can be resold after they first go on sale. I’m both embarrassed that I could make such a costly error and angered about their ethics.”

A third client bought eight tickets to see Little Mix at Leeds Arena and was charged £67 per ticket – £536 in total – plus an additional fee of £24 per ticket – £142 in total. When their tickets arrived in the post they had a face value of £25 each and a booking fee of £3 each.

Kirsty Dickinson, campaigns manager for Kirklees Citizens Advice, tried a test purchase and found that the booking fees were only verified on the payment screen and only visible by scrolling down the page.

“You have to scroll down to find it,” she said. “At the same time, there’s a clock saying that if you don’t purchase the ticket by a certain time you will lose it, so there is added pressure to buy.”

Sam Heaton, a volunteer at the Dewsbury office who has carried out research into Viagogo, said the company was not breaking rules because its terms and conditions stated that people booking tickets agreed to the fees imposed, but added: “It is not transparent. The terms and conditions are at the bottom of the webpage.

“Companies like Viagogo need to be more transparent with their charges. They are not as clear as they could be.

“When someone has saved up attend a particular event it causes extra issues for them financially.”

Viagogo – which styles itself as “the ticket marketplace” – incurred the wrath of MPs when it failed to send a representative to give evidence on Tuesday (Mar 21) to a Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee hearing into ticket touting.