Agency sold £40 Cliff tickets at £323

As one of Cliff Richard's most devoted fans, Sonia Swierzbinski was willing to pay more than most for the pleasure of seeing him perform live. So when she found two prime tickets on the internet for his show at the Royal Albert Hall, she decided to snap them up at £275 each. But two days later a receipt arrived at nearly £100 more than the price she had agreed with the ticketing agency GetMeTickets.com.

Instead of £275 each, the tickets cost more than £323 - because the original price had not included VAT. Now, thanks to the complaints of

Mrs Swierzbinski and other music fans, the London-based online agency has been fined for selling concert tickets at hugely inflated prices.

The prosecution followed a major investigation by trading standards officers prompted by complaints by customers that they are being ripped off by ticket agencies.

GetMeTickets.com was found to be conning customers by advertising prices that did not include VAT and by not displaying the face value of a ticket that it was selling at a massive mark-up.

Mrs Swierzbinski, whose tickets for Sir Cliff 's Alive And Kicking show had a face value of £40, said: "When I rang up to book the tickets I specifically asked if there would be any charges on top of the price," she said. "But they said there was just the £7 courier charge and took my payment over the phone.

"When I received my letter, the price had gone up to £323.13 each. I thought it was a mistake."

The 43-year-old intensive care nurse from Kettering, Northamptonshire, rang the agency to complain and was passed on to director Michael Rangos, who told her the additional charge was VAT.

"I wasn't told about that and there was no mention of it on the website," Mrs Swierzbinski said.

"I asked if he would give me my money back but he said no. I told him he would get a lot of complaints then he hung up."

She contacted trading standards, which took the case to court. "It was all very stressful but I didn't want it to happen to anyone else," she said. The business was found guilty by Kettering magistrates and fined

£4,250 with £627 costs. The Office of Fair Trading is investigating "rip-off" prices demanded for West End shows and sporting events. Ticket agencies sell £100 million of seats a year - a figure that is rising rapidly as many venues have closed their box offices. James Ashton, the Northamptonshire councillor responsible for trading standards, said: "It is wrong to deceive and confuse consumers in this way and we take all rip-offs very seriously."

GetMeTickets boasts it can "guarantee access to the front row for any 'sold-out' event." It justifies its " premium" prices by promising to get hold of top tickets that other agencies cannot. However, the ticket prices displayed on its website often represent huge mark-ups on face values, even for events not sold out.