Solicitor billed £4,900 by mobile company for watching “The Apprentice” when abroad

Whilst out enjoying a long weekend on the French Riviera, a solicitor has racked up a bill of £4,900 as she used her iPlayer abroad.

The BBC’s catch-up service, the iPlayer was used to watch The Apprentice along with some other TV programmes.  The 46 year-old solicitor, named as Janet, and specialising in property law, had no idea that her £25 per month tariff, that appears to allow unlimited downloads in the Uk, did not apply abroad.

The mobile broadband service is actually provided by her office management company, who buy the service from a Vodafone subsidiary.  There was a charge of £4.25 per megabyte downloaded.

According to the Telegraph, Janet is now refusing to pay the bill, claiming she was not told about the charges when she got the 3G card.

Earlier in the year, a city executive received a bill for £11,000 after his wife used his mobile phone abroad for downloading four episodes of Friends.