Tightwads !

A bus company made a little lad pay £2 for the return of his lost wallet which only contained a fiver!

Charley Vincent, 11, did not realise it was missing until he returned home. Mum Lucy, 46, called the bus company and was relieved to be told a passenger had handed it in.

But she was outraged to learn that the firm wanted £2 before it handed over her son's property.

Charley, who got off the number eight bus in Weymouth, Dorset, said: "I feel very angry about this. I've had to pay £2 out of my own pocket money to get my wallet back. It only had £5 in it."

Catering assistant Lucy fumed: "I was disgusted. What a cheek. Nowhere else charges you to collect your own property. Charley was gutted. I just cannot believe they charge you £2 - what do they do with all the cash they rake in? It is so tight-fisted and the fact they have done it to a child is even worse."

A spokesman for First said it was company policy to charge a fee for the return of lost items. He added: "It is not unusual for companies to charge a small levy with regards to lost property.

"In our terms and conditions our customers are informed that there is a charge. Our lost property is a service. We have to collect lost property and then sort it all out."