A PENSIONER has been bombarded with £6,000 electricity bills for a workshop that had its electricity supply disconnected 25 years ago.

Anthony Lane, 66, was threatened with court action and bailiffs by British Gas, who claimed he owed £6,406.81 for electricity provided to the workshop at the back of his Winton home.

But this electrical supply was disconnected 25 years ago, before Mr Lane even moved into the property.

The workshop is only connected to the supply at Mr Lane’s house, which is provided by Scottish Power.

Mr Lane, a retired engineer, said he called British Gas several times and was constantly reassured it was a mistake that would be corrected.

But the bills kept coming, with British Gas even adding on an administrative charge and threatening him with court and bailiff costs.

He was also concerned the bills stated they were based on actual, not estimated, meter readings.

“Clearly I had not given them these meter readings, as there is no reading to give them,” he said.

“And there is no way they could have read the meter without coming through the house.

“It did really start to affect me. I went on holiday and came back to a pile of bills and reminders.

“I was getting agitated to the point of not feeling right at all.

“It was incredibly frustrating and I think somebody more vulnerable would have got very distressed.”

After being contacted by the Echo, British Gas acknowledged the error and apologised to Mr Lane.

Spokesperson Lucy Coyle said: “I am very sorry that Mr Lane has been receiving bills from us in error and that we have taken so long to deal with this.

“We transferred Mr Lane’s electricity account in error from another supplier in 2007.

“We have fully investigated and updated our records to ensure that Mr Lane will not receive any further bills from us.

“We have contacted Mr Lane today to explain why this happened and to apologise for any inconvenience.”