SINGLE mum Viktoria Cole has attacked mobile phone operatorVodafone for not warning her about a soaring data bill of more than £1,000 while her ten-year-old daughter Megan used her tablet.

Miss Cole, 31, of Oaklands, Chippenham, only learned of the situation when her card was declined at a petrol station and said she cannot understand why Vodafone doesn’t warn people of rising bills.

A spokesman for Vodafone said the company does send text messages to warn customers when they are at 80 per cent of their inclusive allowance but that they cannot take responsibility for customers receiving or reading these messages.

Miss Cole, who works as a part-time receptionist told telecoms advice service cable.co.uk that she had assumed her daughter Megan was connected to the Wi-Fi at home.

She said: “I was so upset. I thought it was really weird because I’d just got paid. I rang Vodafone and to my absolute shock they had taken £632 out of my account.

“When I called and they weren’t interested, that’s what shocked me most.

“I’ve got four lines with Vodafone, I’ve been a loyal customer for ten years. I would have thought at some point I would have had a courtesy call warning me that my bill was so high.

“If my bill had gone to £100 or something like that on the tablet, they have my mobile number; they could have sent me a text or called me just to alert me since it’s so unusual.”

After the discovery, Miss Cole had to get the bank to recall the money so she could afford her other expenses, then rang Vodafone to try to sort out the situation.

While on the phone, Miss Cole was then told her next bill was already up to around £500.

“I was speechless. I asked what he could do but they said nothing until the bill is generated,” she added.

Vodafone has since agreed a payment plan with Miss Cole over five months and has also agreed to reduce the outstanding amount by £250 as a goodwill gesture.

A spokesman said: "We have discussed the account with Ms Cole and we have confirmed that she used 20GB of data in July, and 22GB in August. The charges are correct.

"It is always up to the customer to monitor their own spending. It’s worth noting that if Wi-Fi fails a device will automatically default to the 3G service if it can."