Northern Rail demands to see PASSPORT of 11 year-old girl travelling with her granddad

Robert Nicol said train staff treated him like a liar, and his young granddaughter, Nicole Pennington, was embarrassed as the pair were made to buy two adult tickets.

The pair were travelling from Buxton to Manchester and Nicole was told by Northern Rail she needed to produce a passport as proof of age.

Mr Nicol said: “I am absolutely furious with them. I was treated like a liar and not a customer and I am so angry with them for not believing in me. It ruined our day.”

Nicole had a travel photocard with her which she uses to get free bus journeys to and from school, which shows her date of birth.

Mr Nicol, who is secretary for his local branch of the Royal British Legion, said: “Why was my word not good enough? She is tall but she is only 11.

“I feel that Northern Rail fell very short of the service expected - it is not even the money, it is the fact they made an 11-year-old girl feel self-conscious.

“Nicole was so embarrassed and no child should be made to feel like that because of poor customer service.”

Mr Nicol added: “I will never travel on Northern Rail again after this.”

A Northern Rail spokesman apologised for the “less than satisfactory experience”.

He said: “We will look to re-brief our people on the importance of using discretion in situations such as these.”