Manchester tram inspector wrong to say baby wasn’t child

The mayor of Greater Manchester has apologised to a mother who was threatened with a fine over a family tram ticket because her baby and toddler were considered “too young” to be classed as children.

Cassie from Droylsden in Tameside said she was shocked when a ticket inspector said her £7.10 off-peak family day travel card was invalid because under-fives travel for free, and did count as children.

Andy Burnham told BBC Radio Manchester the mother-of-two had “done everything right”, adding he was “sorry this was your experience”.

He said Transport for Greater Manchester had since clarified the inspector had wrongly interpreted the rules.

Family tram tickets can be used by a group of one to three children accompanied by one or two adults travelling together, and there is no minimum age requirement for the children.

Cassie had been travelling with her husband and two children, both under five, to a church service in Manchester city centre on the city’s Metrolink tram service.

The inspector told them they should have each purchased a £4.30 adult day ticket instead.

TFGM previously said that all inspectors have been made aware that there is no minimum age for children travelling on a family ticket.

Mr Burnham said he was sure the transport operator would be “making things right” for Cassie.

He said: “To be fair to our inspectors out there, I’ve thrown a lot of change at our system in a short space of time, and you know there will be bits and bobs of things that need to be fixed.

“And the point of having control of the Bee Network is when people do raise things we’ll look at them honestly and fix them as quick as we can.”