The Cure’s Robert Smith has hit out at Ticketmaster for slapping high transaction fees on tickets for the band’s upcoming tour.

Robert, from Crawley, responded to angry messages from fans who complained that the platform had been charging extortionate fees on Verified Fan tickets.

Verified Fan is a scheme to quash the number of tickets being sold to touts.

Addressing the excess fees, Robert wrote a message on Twitter in capital letters: “I am as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster ‘fees’ debacle.

“To be very clear: The artist has no way to limit them. I have been asking how they are justified.

“If I get anything coherent by way of an answer, I will let you all know.”

The goth rocker gave fans an update on Thursday, saying Ticketmaster had agreed to refund money to Verified Fan subscribers.

He said: “After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all Verified Fan accounts for lowest ticket price transactions.”

Smith said that $5 would be returned to Verified Fan accounts for transactions at other prices.

It comes after he explained the band’s decision to use the Verified Fan service for the tour, in a bid to reduce touting, and slammed Ticketmaster’s “Platinum” level tickets – a service used by Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band which saw tickets for their recent tour sell for thousands of dollars.