A dad has spoken of his fury after being charged additional "toll-like" fees to send his two sons 25 metres down a corridor to boxing classes.

Daniel Anderson drops off his two boys, Louis, nine and Connor, 12, at Cygnet Leisure Centre in Northfleet to attend boxing classes twice weekly.

The dad-of-four signed the pair up with Gravesham Amateur Boxing Club (ABC) around two months ago which trains at the facilities but is run separately.

Daniel, 47, paid £100 in yearly membership fees and his two sons hand over another £5 in pocket money twice a week in subs, to box.

But a few weeks ago they were stopped at the centre's main entrance and refused entry to the club unless they paid £2.60, a further £1.30 each, to reception.

"The receptionist explained my children had to pay this toll to walk 40 steps to the boxing gym entrance," said Daniel, who lives in the Riverview Park area of Gravesend.

"When I asked why, the manager explained this was a charge enforced by senior management. Although, for two months my children have not been asked for any money, and rightly so."

The construction project manager pointed out his sons were not using the facilities other than that of the boxing gym.

But Gravesham Community Leisure Ltd, which operates Cygnet Leisure Centre and two other suites across Gravesend and Dartford, says it insists on the fees for non-members as part of its rental arrangement terms with the boxing club.

It means anyone taking part in an activity based at the suite either has to sign up to one of its own memberships – at an extra cost of £33 a year – or pay the £1.30 fee to come in each time.

But Daniel says this was not made clear to him – either in person or on the website – when he signed his two sons up.

He says he has now been asked to fork out two additional yearly membership fees or face accumulating £250 in additional fees "just to send his boys along the corridor" each time.

"There is no doubt in years to come they will probably get a membership but this does not feel like a friendly way to treat children," he added.

"I just don't understand why they feel the need to do what they are doing."

"It irritates me that they find the need to charge children a toll to get from reception to a door less than 25 metres away..."

With rising living costs to account for Daniel says he finds it "distasteful" that additional fees are being levied when families are already "feeling the pinch".

He added: "This is for children after all and it encourages fitness and social skills and keeps them off the streets.

"I just find it saddening. Most families are struggling at the moment, including myself, with the increase in fuel, travel and energy costs, and it irritates me that they find the need to charge children a toll to get from reception to a door less than 25 metres away."

Pro boxer Cheavon Clarke, who featured at the Tokyo Olympics, started his career training with Gravesham ABC.

ABC head coach Lenny Trusty says the club has tried for many years to get the fee quashed.

He said they had also tried to get a Cygnets club membership in the past but it had "proved a nightmare" with members.

As a club it says it does all it can to keep the training subs affordable and has operating costs and overheads to meet with limited income streams.

"At the end of the day we are a boxing club committed to developing boxers to compete at local, national and international level," Lenny said. "We give up our time for free and Cygnets works for us as a club despite the entrance fee.

"Unfortunately Cygnets feels it necessary to charge our members to walk down the corridor as part of their rental agreement terms."

Wayne Pedrick of GCLL, operators of Cygnet Leisure Centre, said: “Firstly, we are sorry that Mr Anderson’s sons were stopped from enjoying their session with the boxing club on the evening in question and for any confusion caused.

“All private clubs and groups that use Cygnet have two payment options when they hire the space for their activity.

“They can hire the facility at a reduced rate, which requires anyone taking part in their activity to sign up to our Active Leisure membership to access Cygnet, or pay a small fee to come into the centre each time they visit; or they pay a higher rate to hire the space which includes membership for all of their participants.

“The boxing club has been using Cygnet for many years and has always chosen the first option, which means anyone participating in their session must either be an Active Leisure member or pay a small entry fee.

"We would hope and expect the boxing club makes this clear to new members as they sign up to take part in their sessions.

“When we host private clubs and groups we incur costs such as the heating and lighting of the venue, ensuring the changing and toilet facilities are open and clean, and having the required number of staff, including first aiders, on site.

“Our charging policy for private clubs and groups helps us cover those costs and has been in place for a number of years.”