AFTER spending two months in hospital with a serious illness, pensioner Roy Barfoot was just glad to be home.

However, the 76-year-old got the shock of his life when when he found a gas bill for nearly £5,000 waiting on his doormat.

A meter reader from Mr Barfoot's gas supplier, Powergen, had been made two days previously and had clearly made a serious mistake.

Mr Barfoot, of Bishopstoke, immediately called Powergen on December 19 only to be told the error would take four weeks to rectify.

"I couldn't believe it when I got back from hospital after being very ill, only to find a bill for £4,848.64 waiting for me," he said.

"I contacted Powergen, who admitted that they had thought the bill was extraordinarily high for an elderly couple."

It turned out that their engineer had read the meter as 7345 rather than 2345 - causing Mr Barfoot's bill to rocket from the normal £50 into the thousands.

He said: "It was a simple mistake to make - but I couldn't believe it only took two days to process the bill but was going to take four weeks to sort out their own error."

This left the pensioner, who had just spent over seven weeks seriously ill in hospital, facing days of worry and concern.

"It not only affected me and my wife but also our family," he added.

"Powergen don't seem to realise the worry and stress it has caused me and my family.

"They have been very blas about it all."

Mr Barfoot, an former worker at the Pirelli factory in Eastleigh, eventually received a call from Powergen on January 2 telling him that the company was willing to write off the bill - as well as any outstanding bills he had.

A spokesperson for Powergen said: "Our apologies go to Mr Barfoot for the incorrect reading that we took.

"As a goodwill gesture, we are going to write off the £60 that Mr Barfoot had outstanding on his bill."