Naomi Bourke, with daughter Skylar, was threatened with jail after missing her stop on the train (Picture: SWNS)

A daydreaming young mother who was fined for missing her stop was left terrified after being threatened with jail when she appealed to Southeastern Rail.

Naomi Bourke, 21, begged the inspector to be lenient after realising she forgot to change trains during a two-leg journey in Kent with her daughter, but he slapped her with a £20.80 fine.

After being told she could appeal the fine Naomi wrote to Southeastern Rail, whose parent company revealed profits of nearly £100 million last year, asking for her fine to be reversed as it was an honest mistake.

Three weeks later she was told the heavy handed company had hiked the fine to £70.

Then a few weeks later her blood ran cold when she received a letter saying she would have to pay £1,000 as well as threatening to have her locked up for three months.

She said: ‘My jaw honestly dropped.

‘I’m a single mother and it was a genuine mistake – I had tried to follow the procedure but here I am being threatened with a possible prison sentence.’

The letter from Southeastern Rail left Naomi Bourke, 21, terrified. (Picture: SWNS)

‘It’s crazy and I’m terrified of both outcomes to be honest. I can’t afford to pay a big fine and I don’t know what I would do if I had to go to prison.’

‘What would happen to my daughter?’

Naomi was travelling with her daughter Skylar from Dover Priory on April 26 when she did not change trains at Faversham as she was daydreaming and didn’t realise where she was.

When she got off at Ramsgate, the next stop, and explained what happened to the ticket inspector, he acknowledged the ‘honest’ mistake – then fined her anyway.

She said: ‘I couldn’t believe it when he gave me a ticket, I had already apologised and showed him my ticket.’

Naomi Bourke and daughter Skylar were travelling on Southeastern Rail when they missed their stop. (Picture: SWNS)

‘There were kids in the same carriage who were openly admitting to bunking the train. It felt really unfair that I was getting the same treatment as these kids who had purposely tried to avoid a fare and I had just made a mistake.’

The Dover mother was shocked at how brutally Southeastern Rail treated her.

The letter, from Southeastern Rail, said: ‘Intentional fare evasion is a criminal matter and upon conviction carries a maximum sentence of a fine of £1,000 and/or three months imprisonment.’

However, Southeastern Rail has subsequently admitted Naomi was treated badly and agreed to refund her ticket and scrap the fine.

A spokesman said: ‘We are really sorry that Naomi received such a disappointing service from us during her journey. We always encourage our employees to use their discretion when faced with such situations.

‘It was unfortunate that in Naomi’s case, while applying ticket rules, our colleague could have shown more flexibility so we will refund her the cost of the ticket and any penalty sums paid so far.’