Camden News: Terence MacManus

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Camden News - by TOM FOOT
Published: 14 August 2008

Terence MacManus: ‘They were hounding me’

No gas supply for 25 years, but payment demands kept on coming

WHEN Terence MacManus got a letter from British Gas warning him he was late with payments he passed it off as a clerical error.
The 77-year-old cancer sufferer had cut off his gas supply 25 years ago in protest at what he believed were hidden charges.
But the letters kept coming and coming and eventually he was told the company had taken legal action and he owed them more than £1,000.
“This was a curious game,” he said. “I sent them letter after letter, and I can’t remember how many emails, explaining I was not a customer of their company. But the letters kept coming asking for £589. Then they sent one saying I would be charged £361 for a legal warrant, including £50 for a debt collection visit and £14 for them sending me the letter! A wise person once said ‘bureaucracy is the worst tyranny’. They were hounding me. I am not well and I don’t think all this has done me any favours. I went to Devon to get away from it – when I got back I was expecting the locks to be changed.”
Mr MacManus, who lives in Priory Road, West Hampstead, said: “If they’d bother to come and check the meter for the house they would have seen my flat has not used any gas since 1983.”
A spokesman for British Gas said: “We fully accept that Mr MacManus has not used gas since 1983. British Gas sent a written apology to Mr MacManus on July 21 after legal notices were mistakenly sent to his address.”

* See Health for Terence MacManus fight against cancer and his faith in a Vegan diet

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