The heir to a �70m fortune who dodged a �1 fare on the Tyne and Wear Metro transport system has finally paid up.

Charles Robert Innes-Ker, the Marquess of Bowmont and the future Duke of Roxburghe, was caught travelling on the train without a ticket.

Lord Charles, opted to pay a �10 fine within 21 days or risk a stiffer penalty and have his name placed on a published "Losers' List" of fare dodgers.

But a spokesman for Nexus, which operates the Metro system, said the 21-year-old, who gave his address as Floors Castle in Kelso, Scotland, has paid his fine.

Driving licence

The spokesman said: "We have received a cheque signed by the Marquess of Bowmont."

Metro staff stopped Lord Charles at Haymarket station in Newcastle city centre on 3 February.

It was only when he showed them his driving licence that they believed he really was the Marquess of Bowmont.

He is the nephew of Britain's richest man, the Duke of Westminster.

The Nexus spokesman said: "As he has now paid his fine we have no need to place his name on our losers' list.

"We received a Royal Bank of Scotland cheque for the �10 fine on Tuesday."

The ancestral home of Lord Charles, Floors Castle, is set in 60,000 acre grounds and boasts its own �1.5m championship golf course.

It was also used as a setting for the film Greystoke: The Legend Of Tarzan, Lord Of the Apes.