Keydell Nurseries close online booking for Woodland Walk after computer glitch sees people charged up to £1,000

The Keydell garden centre’s Woodland Walk is a festive fixture, drawing thousands of people across November and December each year. The tickets went on sale at 9am on Saturday.

The business has closed the order line after dozens of complaints, and on Saturday has released a statement.

This says: ‘We are just closing the website link for tickets whilst we sort current issues with ticket buyers.

‘We do apologise for this but it’s a matter out of our control due to overload of buyers and the ticket company not keeping up with demand.

‘We are also in contact with ticket company regarding the impact this has caused.

‘Please message your email address used so we can sort bookings as quickly as we can.

‘Thank you for understanding.’

The garden centre's phone line is diverted to voicemail.

On Sunday Keydell issued an update, saying it was working through the refunds and apologising for the problem, which was a ‘worldwide issue’ with the company it used for processing sales.

Angry ticket buyers have written hundreds of comments on the garden centre’s Facebook page, with some saying £900 has been debited from their account.

There are many complaints that the screen has frozen and timed people out. They then try again, but payments have been taken for each attempt.

However, one customer reported that after going to the garden centre the issue was sorted out immediately.

The walk costs £6.50 for an adult or child, with under-ones free. A group of four is £22.50, and a group of six is £33.50.