British Gas sorry for bill error

Caroline Clewlow said she was upset by the incident

British Gas has apologised to a Worcestershire woman for referring a £62 bill which was paid in 2007 to a debt collection agency.

Caroline Clewlow, 36, from Malvern, said the bill was paid in the same year and she was "furious" and "upset" to have to deal with an agency.

British Gas has apologised saying that when payment was made the account number was not correctly specified.

Ms Clewlow said: "We're not people who don't pay our bills."

She added: "To have to deal with a debt collection agency just upsets me.

'Supposedly chasing'

"On the initial calls they (British Gas Business) spoke to me, but when they said it had been sold to a debt collection agency, they said they couldn't talk to me about it.

"It took a while for British Gas to establish which bill and amount they were supposedly chasing us for.

"I'm just sad that it had to come to this in order for the problem to be resolved."

In a statement, British Gas said it was "very sorry" she had "experienced such difficulties" with her account.

It said: "We were.. not able to allocate the payment to her account. As a result, her account remained as unpaid and it was passed to a debt collection agency.

"We have now located her payment and have arranged for the balance to be withdrawn from the debt collection agency."