A PENSIONER has been thrown into debt after British Gas miscalculated her bills - because her meter was running backwards.

Margaret Magor, aged 64, of Coronation Gardens, Radcliffe says she was landed with a bill of more than £700 after British Gas failed to check her meter for two and a half years.

She claims the gas company only used estimated readings and "laughed at her" when she sent in her readings showing the meter was going backwards.

And when an official did read her meter British Gas assumed it had been recorded wrongly and changed the figure.

When the fault was eventually spotted, Mrs Magor had run up a mammoth extra gas bill because the estimates had been too low.

Defiant Mrs Magor is now threatening to refuse to pay her bill.

She has written to the Gas Consumers' Council and Radcliffe MP Ivan Lewis, who called the situation "outrageous".

The grandmother of two said: "I was sneered at and laughed at. I sent my reading in but it was ignored. I was banging my head against a brick wall. "They were saying it was my fault for reading it wrong -- but it's them that are incompetent."

She claims they had even told her they would charge her £30 if an engineer came to check her meter.

When an engineer eventually investigated, he discovered the inlet pipe and the outlet pipe on the meter had been put on the wrong way round, causing the figures to go backwards.

She has been given £250 compensation and has paid some of the amount owed to British Gas, but says she cannot afford the rest.

She said: "I'm a pensioner. I can't find this extra money, even if I am paying it monthly. I am prepared to not pay it and to go to court."

MP Ivan Lewis has demanded a full investigation by British Gas into the way Mrs Magor has been treated.

He said: "It seems outrageous, bizarre at the least. Clearly, if they're responsible for all that's happened, then she shouldn't be charged anything." David Sidebottom of the Gas Consumers' Council said he was not satisfied with the way it had been resolved.

He said: "It's a very, very embarrassing set of circumstances for them. They should have double-checked it but they did nothing for so long."

However, British Gas says it will continue to pursue Mrs Magor for the amount it says she owes.

Spokesman Philip Wilcock said: "Mrs Magor's meter was incorrectly fitted some time ago and we have apologised for the inconvenience and trouble this has caused with her bills.

"We are very sorry for the original error but can assure Mrs Magor she has not had to pay for any more gas than she has used."

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