Fans wait for news on ticket refunds

Fans were waiting to hear today if they will receive refunds for his 50-concert residency at London's O2 venue.

The King of Pop was due to perform the farewell concerts this summer, bowing out on an illustrious music career spanning several decades while aiming to restore his fortunes.

In March, tickets to his This Is It concerts at the O2 became the "hottest selling on the planet", according to organisers, with 750,000 fans snapping them up.

A representative for concert organiser AEG Live said an announcement could be made later today, but there were delays due to time differences with the United States.

He said: "At this time our thoughts are with Michael's children, family and friends.

"We will announce ticketing details in due course."

Fans from around the world queued through the night to get their hands on tickets for the shows.

Concert organisers said they were the fastest-selling tickets in London ever. They sold at a rate of 11 per second, 657 per minute and nearly 40,000 an hour.

Extra tickets for the gigs were released this week.

Press releases promoting the concert on AEG's behalf were still on the internet today.

Seatwave issued a statement saying that all customers who purchased tickets for Jackson's O2 shows from it will get a full refund.

The statement said: "Full information on how to do this is on our website at http://www.seatwave.com.

"We advise customers to use the website rather than our phone lines to obtain this information."

A statement on Ticketmaster's website said: "We have no official information at this stage. As soon as we have any information, we will immediately contact all customers who have booked tickets through Ticketmaster."