Passenger's outrage over £1,300 fine for failing to pay £2.20 bus fare - because National Express backdated penalty TWO YEARS to when an old travel pass expired
- Colette Southern, from Wolverhampton, was caught using expired pass
- The 25-year-old says she was ordered off service and issued a £450 fine
- Usual on-the-spot fine for not having correct ticket on single journey is £35
- National Express say in cases like this they backdate the cost of travelcard
A woman was fined £1,300 after she was found travelling on a bus with an expired pass - despite her insisting that she never uses public transport.
Colette Southern, 25, from Wolverhampton, says she took the bus - which charges £2.20 for a single journey - because the colleague who usually gives her a lift to work was off.
She was taken off the bus in Birmingham when an inspector noticed her £14 weekly travelcard had expired two years before and was not valid in the area she was travelling.
Colette Southern, 25, from Wolverhampton, was fined £1,300 for failing to pay a £2.20 fare after inspectors found her weekly travelcard expired two years ago
Usually, an on-the-spot fine for not having paid the correct fare on a National Express service is £35 - but Ms Southern says she was told to pay £450 upfront.
She claims this was later increased to £1,300 because she could not afford the upfront fine.
'I'm absolutely disgusted,' Ms Southern told The Sun. 'Drink-drivers get charged less than that for putting lives in danger.
'I was halfway to work when they hauled me off. I was so embarrassed.'
She said she was being charged on the basis of using the service every day, but insisted that she had not used the bus for about a year.
National Express confirmed to MailOnline that the company issued Ms Southern with a £1,300 fine - the equivalent of around two years' worth of travel - after she refused to pay an £800 settlement.
A spokesman for National Express West Midlands said: 'We feel it is reasonable to back date charges between the time someone has last paid for travel and the time they were caught without a fare.'
He added: 'Ms Southern was asked to leave our service when ticket inspectors found she was travelling with a weekly travelcard that was nearly two years out of date and not valid in the part of the region she was travelling.
'It is our policy to issue those caught using our services without paying a fare with a fine, this policy is clearly advertised on all buses, and in cases like this to back date the cost of the travelcard.
'Ms Southern was offered a settlement of £800, which would have been less than the cost of two years of travelcards, but refused.'
The spokesman also disputed that Ms Southern was left stranded six miles from work, adding that inspectors put people on the next available bus.
National Express confirmed to MailOnline that they issued Ms Southern with a £1,300 fine - the equivalent of nearly two years worth of travel - after she refused to pay an £800 settlement
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