A RANDOM act of kindness avoided heartache for a young soldier and his family, when a problem with his train ticket nearly caused him to miss his grandfather’s funeral.

The 16-year-old had been given compassionate leave to return home for the family bereavement.

He was due to leave Harrogate Station on Friday, but when he was unable to, he contacted the booking website thetrainline.com to change his ticket and travel at a later time.

But while travelling back, the ticket inspector informed him his ticket was not valid and told him the details of travel had not been logged properly.

The teenager had no means of paying for a new ticket and was unable to contact his family for help, so in a heart-warming act, the conductor of Harrogate station decided to pay for his son’s ticket.

The soldier’s mother took to Facebook to express her gratitude to the conductor.

Victoria Cairns posted on the social media site: “My son explained what had happened, showed the conductor the 12-minute phone call to the train line on his phone from when he changed the details of travel but the conductor said they hadn't changed it properly and his ticket wasn't valid.

"He couldn't get hold of me (I was still asleep after being up until 3am with little one's ear ache) to pay for another ticket so he was stuck.

"But instead of throwing my son off the train the conductor of Harrogate station (Mr Peter Foster) paid for my son's ticket."

The act of kindness made Mrs Cairns burst into tears when her son explained what had happened, as Mr Foster said he was "always happy to help a serviceman in need" and trusted the soldier to pay him back.

Mrs Cairns added: "Paying him back doesn't seem enough and I would like Arriva to know what a great human being the conductor at Harrogate is and Mr Peter Foster I thank you again from the bottom of my heart, as does my son.”

Paul Barnfield, regional director at Northern said: “Our conductor Peter Foster went above and beyond his call of duty to help out.

"It was a wonderful act of kindness, we’re very proud to have Peter and so many other great people as part of the Northern team.”