TEACHER Vincent Muir has spent the last nine months in a battle with British Gas over an unpaid £50 bill, even though he is not one of its customers.

The fight began for Mr Muir, who lives on The Green in Urchfont, with his wife and three children, when he got letters from British Gas, relating to a £50 bill for a house in Reading.

After returning several unopened, he decided to read one and discovered the money was owed by a person who had never lived at his Urchfont address.

He spoke to British Gas several times and was promised it would be sorted out, but the couple still received an average two bills a week for six months.

Mr Muir, a biology teacher, said: “We became more concerned when we were planning on going on holiday in October and feared the build-up of bills would pose a security risk.”

Mr Muir sent five complaints and contacted Trading Standards, the energy Ombudsman and posed updates on British Gas’s social media pages.

The letters stopped, but then debt collectors starting sending demands before Christmas.

He finally got an apology in December, along with confirmation that British Gas would tell debt collectors the address had been given in error. He was offered a “goodwill gesture” of £50.

But he said: “Do they think it makes up for the inconvenience of having to spend some 14 hours trying to communicate with them and get them to do something about their own mistakes?

“I want to make British Gas change the way they treat those many individuals who receive a service which is unacceptable.”

A spokesperson for Britsh Gas said: “I am very sorry that we sent bills in error to Mr Muir’s address. We should have put this right as soon as he contacted us.

“We’ve been in touch with Mr Muir to confirm that he will not receive any further bills from us.

“We have apologised to Mr Muir for the inconvenience and distress this has caused and we have offered a gesture of goodwill.”