Phone firm to foot soldier's £4,000 bill

Lance Corporal Hayley Ashmead is a clerk with the Army and speaks regularly to her family on her mobile.

The 21-year-old, of Darlington, changed her contract with Vodafone before flying out and was told she would not be charged for receiving calls abroad, which regular mobile users would have to pay.

But her mother, Sharon Ashmead, who is receiving her daughter's mail while she is away, was stunned when a bill for more than £2,500 arrived. And when she called the company, she was told she would also be charged a further £1,300.

Support worker Mrs Ashmead said: "Nobody can afford to pay a bill that high.

"The woman in the Vodafone shop said it was the biggest bill she had ever seen.

"We wouldn't even be able to get a loan, so there was no way I was going to pay.

"There is no way we would have called her on a mobile if we knew it would end up costing that much."

The cost of the call would have swallowed up any money L Cpl Ashmead has saved for a deposit on a house, while serving her country.

As she was coping with a stomach bug in a field hospital in Afghanistan, her mother was taking on Vodafone.

The company eventually contacted her to tell her it had realised there had been a mistake and the bill need not be paid.

Mrs Ashmead said: "It has been a nightmare week and I have not been able to sleep with the worry.

"I am so relieved, but I don't want the advisor responsible to be sacked. I want to warn people how easy it would be to run up a massive bill."

A spokeswoman for Vodaphone confirmed that L Cpl Ashmead would not have to pay the bill.

She said: "We have contacted the family involved and we have agreed that she won't have to pay for the calls.

"We will do that for the duration that her daughter is in Afghanistan.

"She was given incorrect information by the call handler, but we will honour what she was told.

"When people are abroad they have to pay when they receive calls.

"We will be discussing this with the team involved."