A mum of two has been left struggling to pay her bills after a 'human error' led to her being charged more than £1,000 for a taxi journey.

Vanessa Morris, 29, was travelling from her home in Kearsley to Bolton town centre with S&D taxis – based in Farnworth - on Friday (November 25), when she was charged £1,010 instead of £10.10.

When she went to pay £10.10 for her journey, she was told that there wasn’t a card reader available, and that she would have to ring their office to pay over the phone.

It was only when she went to try and do some shopping and her card declined, that she realised something was wrong.

After checking her bank, she saw that the large payment from S&D was pending to leave her account.

She said: “I still haven’t got the money back and I have got two young girls.

“We haven’t got food in the house.

“I can’t live with no money, especially at Christmas time.”

Whilst Vanessa says she understands that mistakes happen, this has left her in a difficult situation.

She said that her step mum had to lend her money over the weekend to help her out.

The taxi company have apologised and shared Vanessa’s frustration and explained that it was down to a “human error”, and that a refund is currently being processed, which can take up to three to five working days.

Vanessa says that this has meant she has been unable to put a deposit down for her holiday for her 30th birthday next year, as well as swimming lessons for the children.

She is concerned that she also has other bills, including rent which are also expected to come out too.

She added: “I will get bank charges for not having the money in my account.

“Some bills haven’t gone out yet, but I just want to be able to pay my bills.”

Due to Vanessa being left without enough money in her bank she says she started to walk home on Friday when her best friend came to collect her so she could pick her children up from school.

Vanessa also said that Diamond Bus have since contacted her to offer her and her two children a free bus pass for the week.

She says that she has used the taxi service for a number of years, and frequently uses the taxi for appointments.

Manager Sajid Mahmood said: “It was a human error where a decimal point was not put in, which unfortunately happens sometimes.

“We share the customer’s frustration because a lot of money has gone out of their account.

“The staff don’t have access to the system where the money goes out.

“It is only accessible through me, and I can see that the payment has gone out, but we processed the refund straight away, and it does take 3-5 working days.

“It is not something that I have control over.”

He said that Vanessa will not be charged for the taxi journey, and that the refund process was started on Friday, but that he has to go through the correct process, and they are unable to carry out a bank transfer directly.

He added: “The money doesn’t come in our bank; it goes straight to a merchant account.

“We can’t give a bank transfer and Bolton Council have said we have to follow the procedure.

“We have been trading for around 20 years and we have always had a good reputation, and it is just an unfortunate consequence of the mistake.”

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