FOUR midwives from York Hospital said they have been threatened with prison after mistakenly getting on the wrong train from London.

Susan Jackson and her colleagues said a Kings Cross customer service representative reassured them that their tickets were valid to travel on a waiting train.

But after the East Coast train set off, the train guard told the group they had boarded the train without a valid ticket.

They have since received letters demanding a total of £600 for “illegally” boarding the train and, despite their protestations, said they have been threatened with court action and even three months’ imprisonment if they do not pay. Mrs Jackson said they had pre-booked the tickets using a national newspaper discount, but checked at the station as they were unsure whether the times were binding.

She said: “The customer service representative said they were discounted tickets, but we could get on the train if we didn’t use our seat reservations.

“If we had got on and we had not checked we would accept that it was our fault. “I’m prepared to go to court over it because I am not going to be made to feel like a criminal for something that is not true.

“It would not have been a problem for us to stay 45 minutes and get on the next train.

“I’m really disgusted by it. I’m upset that they are calling us liars.

“It’s part of our profession that we have to be good citizens.”

Mrs Jackson and her colleagues Claire Hodgson, of Harrogate, Debbie Currie, of Bishopthorpe and Petra Mullen, who lives in Leeds, had independently arranged the trip to London to learn more about Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. Two of the group since have paid the full fine, but Mrs Jackson said they had been pressured into it and said she felt compelled to stand her ground. East Coast has since offered the women a reduced fine of about £75 each. A spokesman for East Coast said: “As a gesture of goodwill to our customers we have offered the four customers a reduced amount and we are currently awaiting a reaction from them.”