LETTER:Feeling heated about British Gas

From Mrs Claire Tomalin

Sir: We are told that Ron Brown deserves his salary and bonuses because he runs British Gas so efficiently.

Today I had a letter from British Gas saying I owed them £216. I don't. On the telephone, they told me I had cancelled my direct debit arrangement, made in December. My bank assures me I have not. The charming man I spoke to at British Gas said I was not the first or the last to be ringing in a state of first bafflement and then indignation about false statements from British Gas.

The waste of my time, telephone calls and postage, as well as British Gas's time, telephone calls and postage, is alarming. By the same mail came a letter from London Gas, offering me gas at a more competitive price. I have filled in their form already.

Yours,

CLAIRE TOMALIN

London, NW1

10 March