71836-14A MAN moved into his new home only to be sent letters from a debt collection agency for a gas bill incurred by the previous occupant of his house.

Paul Wood, 25, an engineer from Kerry Close, Shaw, is furious with Virgin Home Energy over the demands for £75.34.

He bought his house in June last year, and is not a customer of Virgin Home Energy.

One letter threatened to pass his details to a credit default register, a move that would be likely to affect his future credit ratings.

Another letter threatened referral to a home collections division. In April Virgin sent Mr Woods £25 as a gesture of goodwill, but the letters continued.

He said: "This week I got another letter from a collection agency. This is my first home and I am not prepared to risk it or anything in it for something that is nothing to do with me.

"My fear is that the debt collection agency will turn up at my door.

"I'm 25-years-old and can look after myself, but some people might not stand up for themselves like me and they might be scared into paying. And that's not right.

"Virgin Home energy knows that the previous occupants don't live here any more, but they are still writing to my address. I'm seriously thinking about taking legal action."

A spokeswoman for Energy-watch, the gas and electricity consumer watchdog, said: "We want the Woods' address wiped from the Virgin database immediately and compensation for the time that the Woods have wasted trying to have their details updated.

"This debacle gives us little confidence that Virgin's records are as up-to-date or that call centre staff are as efficient as they need to be to issue bills to the right people and avoid incorrectly disconnecting people for other people's debts.

"Energywatch wants Virgin to investigate how failings like this can be prevented in the future."

Richard Robinson, spokesman for EDF energy, parent company for Virgin, said: "We would like to begin by apologising to Mr Woods for the distress he has gone through after receiving letters from the debt collection agency we use, concerning what is quite rightly, not his account.

"After consulting our records, and in consultation with our debt collection agency, we are confident that this is a relatively isolated incident. The error was a result of human error and was a result of the two addresses being transposed on the agency's database.

"This mistake has now been rectified and we will be contacting Mr Woods to apologise.

"We would urge anyone who receives letters from the debt collection agency we use, but obviously not meant for them, to phone Virgin Home energy on 0800 0157 782."

editor@newswilts.co.uk