LAST week my daughter travelled on the Metro and lost her ticket. I know her to be honest, the inspectors don't so they fined her. That I can understand. What I don't understand is why the day she turned 16 she was liable to pay adult fares.

Nothing changed, she still carried on going to school. She didn't suddenly have an income, she had no more money. I still worked part time and had no more money to give her either.

This surely dates back to when most people left school at 16 to work. It is little wonder I see so many young people apprehended for fare evasion, they simply can't afford it! The Government aim to encourage all youngsters to stay on at school by rewarding them a small cash incentive. It is not exactly fair to take it all back off them for travel expenses.

My daughter, now 17, works a few hours at the weekend and earns a very small wage. It costs her more to get there and back than she earns in an hour! I understand she would receive help with fares to school if there were any public transport to Sale Grammar School. My daughter works hard there and deserves to be able to afford a social life at evenings, weekends and school holidays. The scrapping of fares for pensioners is to be applauded but it is also time to be fair to our school kids.

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