A FAMILY say they are ‘disgusted’ with how they were treated by a train conductor on a journey from Durham to Manchester Piccadilly.

Jerry Groody, who lives in Breightmet, says she was ‘verbally abused’ by the Transpennine conductor, who confiscated her family railcard.

Miss Groody had been in County Durham for the weekend, visiting her mother with her five-year-old daughter Faith, and partner Danny Cunningham.

While buying return tickets, Miss Groody realised that it would work out significantly cheaper to buy a family railcard, which requires a minimum of one adult and one child to be travelling together. During their stay, Faith decided that she wanted to stay with her grandmother for a few more days, as she was feeling unwell after recently being in hospital due to asthma.

On the journey back to Manchester, Miss Groody and her partner were told that their tickets were invalid as they were not travelling with a child, despite having tickets for three passengers.

Miss Groody said: “I was told I would need to buy a new set of tickets or I’d be forced to leave the train at the next stop.

“I offered to pay the difference but the man wouldn’t accept it.

“He was screaming and shouting at us in front of a train full of people, being completely unreasonable.

“I’ve already bought my tickets to go back up and get Faith next weekend but I don’t know what I’ll do because he took my railcard.

“It’s not something that we planned, sometimes things happen.

“I’m not made of money - I wouldn’t have bought three tickets if she wasn’t supposed to be coming back with us.

“I didn’t mind paying the difference but to pay for new tickets is unreasonable.”

A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: “It’s important that customers travel with the right ticket for their journey and any changes should be made in advance.

“We would encourage Miss Groody and Mr Cunningham to contact our Customer Relations team regarding their experience so we can speak to them directly.”