A MOTHER and son desperately trying to flee Nepal said they were left in tears after the British government told them they had to pay £1,200 to get home on a rescue plane.

Lindsey MacDonald and her son, who doesn't want to be named, from Lewes, had been taking refuge in a British Army Ghurkha camp in the Nepalese capital Katmandu following the 7.8 magnitude earthquake.

With no money or belongings, the pair was left struggling to return home until foreign secretary Philip Hammond announced on Tuesday that Britons could come back on an aid flight charted by the British government.

The plane landed in Nepal on Sunday evening and delivered much-needed provisions to the country, where more than 6,000 people have died.

But the Sussex pair said they were left dumbfounded when they were told they would be charged £600 each to return to the UK on the plane.

Ms MacDonald, 46, said: “The government sent the plane out and said we could return home.

“They made an announcement at the camp and built our hopes up. We could see light at the end of the tunnel.

“But then someone from the Home Office or Foreign Office told us it would cost £600 each as it was a charter flight. We were distraught because we didn’t have any money. I burst into tears.

“They said not to worry because we could pay when we got back, as long as we signed some paperwork. I thought it was disgusting.”

The following day she said there was a u-turn and they were told just hours before the flight’s departure they would no longer be charged.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office told The Argus nobody was charged for the flight but there “may have been confusion on the ground”.

When quizzed, a spokesman said he could “not rule out” talk of a charge was originally mentioned but stressed the FCO’s official response was: “Nobody was charged for the government flight.”