Shopkeeper faces bankruptcy after British Gas sends him £40,000 bill

Philip Bennett has been running a convenience store for three years and never missed a payment but British Gas informed him there were miscalculations on his meter and he had been underpaying through no fault of his own.

The 40-year-old, who runs Today’s Local convenience shop in Cardinal Road, Beeston, Leeds, was stunned to get the British Gas demand.

He said: “I nearly dropped dead. I have been to the doctor for anti-depressants.

“I put all my money into the business. If they force me to pay this the result will be bankruptcy and my staff will be out of jobs.”

He put all his savings into the shop but now fears losing it all.

Mr Bennett spent £120,000 opening the store in January 2008 after moving back to the UK from South Africa.

For the next three years he paid his bills and his account with the company showed that he was in credit in April.

He then got a call from British Gas to say there may have been a problem with meter readings and asking him to send a picture of the meter. The bill for £39,522 arrived a short time later.

A letter he received in May said: “In a recent review of your account we found that some of your invoices were not accurately billed and you have been undercharged for your electricity.”

But Mr Bennett said: “I had regular contact with them before to make sure I was paying the right amount. If they say ‘You don’t owe us anything’ what am I meant to do? I couldn’t just force them to take my money.

“I have no problem paying people what I owe, but this is totally wrong. It’s like me charging someone £10 for a bottle of whisky every day for a year and then saying to them: ‘Sorry, I made a mistake, you owe me £450.’ They’d tell me to get lost, and rightly so.”

He said they have offered him a 15 per cent discount if he pays straight away, or a five per cent discount if he pays within a year, which is about 2,000 to 3,000 pounds a month but says this remains unaffordable.

A British Gas spokeswoman said: “We are currently working with Mr Bennett to resolve the issue. It is unfortunate that the meter reading provided by the industry meter reader were incorrect and we remain open to discussion with Mr Bennett.”