MONACO VISIT LEAVES COUPLE WITH £109 MOBILE PHONE BILL

Polo Lam and Laura Matos say a two-hour stop in Monaco in September left them with a £109 (€128.88) monthly mobile phone bill. The couple said they used 18.66MB of data between them during the visit. Their roaming charges came to almost £85 (€99.79), while their bill for the previous month was £25 (€29.18). Lam discovered the charges when he checked their mobile account after they travelled on to Italy.

Lam, from Whitby in North Yorkshire, was travelling with Matos on an Interrail holiday from Barcelona to Vienna. Their route took them through France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. While staying in Nice, they decided to visit Menton and make an unplanned stop in nearby Monaco. Matos, a psychologist and founder of La CoolMente, said she had suggested the visit because she wanted to see Monaco’s luxury attractions and casino for herself. The couple said they spent only a few hours there.

Lam said they had used their phones to check Google Maps and open Instagram. “We’d barely used our phones,” he said. He warned other holidaymakers that a short visit could lead to unexpected mobile charges. Lam said the bill made him consider how much a longer stay in Monaco might have cost.