The pier blamed a payment error by payment provider Worldpay which it says accepts ‘full responsibility’ and admitted it had used the date of the transaction instead of the actual amount in each case.

The affected visitors used their cards to pay for rides on the pier in April but had the money debited from their accounts this week, with the transaction described as a ‘deferred payment’.

Anne Ackord, chief executive of the Brighton Pier Group, said in a statement: “We understand from Worldpay that the error meant that one batch of payments used the figures of the date of the transaction as the amount spent, resulting in serious over-charging.

“A number of our customers contacted Worldpay, who refused to engage with them on the grounds of data protection. As soon as we discovered that this serious error had occurred, we entered into discussions with Worldpay – who have accepted full responsibility – to ensure that refunds are processed without delay.”

Ackord also promised that customers would be refunded any bank charges they incurred due to the error. But customers aren’t happy – with many still waiting for their money back.

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One customer Tweeted in reply to the pier’s statement: “Another day passes and I’m still over £4000 out of pocket. Shameful passing of the buck with no assistance what so ever and no offer of compensation. The stress this is causing is unbelievable. The amount of people this has effect it enormous. This is not a little bit of money!”

Another pier visitor Tweeted: “Can someone please explain why I’ve been charged £2104 on my card from you guys!!! I visited the pier 2 months ago. I want my money back now.”

Worldpay said in a statement: “We can confirm that due to an isolated error some customers were debited an incorrect amount on 22 June at Brighton Palace Pier.”

“We are working to credit the cardholders’ account as a matter of urgency for the incorrect amount, and will cover the costs of any associated bank charges incurred. Depending on the cardholders’ bank, it may take up to five days for the correction to hit their account. We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused.”