From correspondents in London, England, 02:02 PM IST

Pop superstar Madonna is being fined 135,000 pounds (nearly $250,000) by the Wembley Stadium for starting and staying on beyond the venue's time limit during a performance there.

Madonna went beyond the stadium's strict 10.30 p.m. curfew by 40 minutes Sep 11, reports thesun.co.uk. She has been charged 50,000 pounds for every 15 minutes she was late.

A stadium source said: 'The concert was meant to start at 8.30 p.m. but Madonna didn't come on stage until 9.10 p.m. The gig ended at 11.10 p.m., so she was quite a bit over. Her people knew about the possible implications for going over the curfew but this is a pretty hefty fine, even for Madonna.'

Madonna is not the first pop star to fall foul of Wembley's curfew. George Michael was fined 130,000 pounds when his concert also ran over time last year.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)