Sue them, judge tells woman who took on might of British Gas

Published 11th Feb 2009

Lord Justice Jacob: Praise for Lisa Ferguson

A judge yesterday praised a woman for fighting back against British Gas after the company deluged her with bills and threatening letters for money she did not owe.

Lisa Ferguson was also told she could pursue her David and Goliath-style legal campaign and sue the energy giant for harassment.

She is seeking £10,000 in damages for distress, anxiety and financial loss.

British Gas sent 47-year-old Mrs Ferguson a stream of bills for eight months after she switched her account to another supplier.

The firm threatened to disconnect her supply, send in debt collectors, take her to court and have her credit rating blacklisted.

But the self-employed property investor, whose business would have faced ruin if she had been blacklisted, refused to lie down and has risked at least £70,000 of her own money to pursue the case in court.

She has already run up legal bills of £35,000. Three Appeal Court judges backed her two year legal campaign yesterday, ruling that British Gas could not stop her from trying to sue for harassment.

They dismissed an appeal by the firm against a High Court decision last year that she could bring a case.

Lord Justice Jacob said: 'It is one of the glories of this country that every now and then one of its citizens is prepared to take a stand against the big battalions of government or industry. Such a person is Lisa Ferguson.'

Mrs Ferguson, from Bromley, South-East London, told the court that a simple decision to change gas suppliers in May 2006 had led to months of harassment from British Gas.

She switched to German-owned npower but was sent a string of incorrect bills from British Gas asking for hundreds of pounds that she did not owe.

When the businesswoman refused to pay and sent proof she had changed supplier, the energy giant repeatedly threatened to cut off her supply, start legal proceedings against her and report her to the credit rating agencies.

It even sent one letter out on Christmas Day.

It took five months for the supplier to say sorry for its actions, but then five days after receiving its apology Mrs Ferguson was sent another wrong bill, for £253.

Lord Justice Jacob said the months of problems had left the businesswoman in 'a state of considerable anxiety'.

He told the Civil Appeal Court in London: 'British Gas sent Ms Ferguson bill after bill and threatening letter after threatening letter. She wrote letter after letter pointing out that she had no account with British Gas. She made phone calls, with all the difficulty of getting through, but to no avail.

'Mainly her letters received no response. Sometimes she received apologies and assurances that the matter would be dealt with. But then the bills and threats continued.

'She complained to (consumer watchdog) Energy-Watch. She wrote to the chairman (of British Gas) twice with no response.

'She says she wasted many hours and, more importantly, was brought to a state of considerable anxiety, not knowing whether the gasman would come at any time to cut her off, whether she would have legal proceedings served upon her or whether she would be, or already had been, reported to a credit rating agency.'

British Gas denies its actions amounted to harassment. It claims that - because its bills and letters of demand were computer-generated - Mrs Ferguson cannot prove that the company knew she was suffering harassment.

Lord Justice Jacob, sitting with two other judges, ruled Mrs Ferguson was entitled to take the case to a civil court trial. He said she had pledged to give a large part of any damages to charity.

'Ms Ferguson's principal object is to bring British Gas to book,' he said. 'In her words, they should "not simply blame information technology. They should instead start taking responsibility for the running of their company in a competent, honest and ethical manner".'

He added: 'Real people are responsible for programming and entering material into the computer.

'Moreover, the threats and demands were to be read by a real person, not by a computer. A real person is likely to suffer real anxiety and distress if threatened in the way which Ms Ferguson was.'

Outside court, Mrs Ferguson refused to discuss the case for fear of prejudicing the harassment trial, which will be heard at a later date. But earlier she said: 'It's about principle. It's blighted my life for two years. They can't go around treating people like this.'

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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