A TEENAGER who was “cornered” by six security guards and held for two hours after “losing” her train ticket has revealed she is “too terrified” to return to the station.

Cherise Forde, 18, has claimed she was surrounded by six overzealous security guards who refused to let her leave the station and threatened to call police over the missing £2.30 ticket.

The teenager uses the c2c line to travel from Basildon to Laindon every day but now claims she is so petrified of the security staff that she won’t be returning to Laindon station.

She claims security staff surrounded her and threatened to call British Transport Police when she failed to produce a ticket – despite her offering to pay the missing fare on the spot.

Ms Forde also claims she was held in the station for more than an hour and security staff put her in a side-room, refusing to let her leave until she paid the £52.30 fine.

She has now lodged an appeal over the fine, but a c2c spokesman has insisted staff followed the correct procedure.

Ms Forde said: “I was only riding for one stop, and I lost my ticket. I asked the ticket office if I could pay again and was greeted with ‘we will fine you’. I was startled. This has never happened to me. I have used this station my whole life and I was incredibly frustrated.

“I was surrounded by three security officers, which was really scary and uncomfortable. They were yelling, and I was getting incredibly distressed. I was surrounded by three more security guards, shouting at me to not try to go through the barriers and filming me, ‘in case I hurt anyone or caused criminal damage’.

“I called my mum, and she ran down. We were continuously threatened that police and the British Transport Police would come after us.”

Following the incident on March 6, Ms Forde’s uncle, Tamarie Palmer-A’dan, 31, said: “This just wasn’t needed. They were threatening that the transport police would come and that she couldn’t leave.

“She lost her ticket, and we accept that regardless of anything, that is her responsibility, but this was too much. Do your job but targeting and cornering young girls is not acceptable.”

A c2c spokesman said: “Our revenue protection officers dealt with the situation in accordance with our penalty fares policy, and the customer in question now has the right of appeal.”