A married couple are "living in a fridge" and wearing dressing gowns at all hours after an issue with British Gas.
John and Julie Murphy have been living in a freezing home for a week after a problem with topping up their gas supply. The married couple, both 63, have been unable to top up their gas as they usually do and are now worried about falling into debt and afraid to put the heating on.
John explained: "We always use an app on our phone to top up the gas but when I went to do it last week it wouldn't let me, the gas tab had just disappeared off the app. I then went to three shops to try and top up with the card and that wouldn't work either."
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John and Julie, from Speke, say they have been trying to contact British Gas for a week now and have been "fobbed off" or left without answers to explain what is going on. Julie has been left in tears on numerous occasions.
John added: "It looks like we have been put onto emergency credit because of this, which they do when your money runs out, but ours hasn't run out - it just won't let us top up."
John and Julie have been too afraid to put their heating on in this period in fear of running up debts that they can't afford. John said: "The meter already says we owe them money, we don't want to be in arrears, in 43 years we have never been in arrears with British Gas."
He added: "We have been living in a fridge, it is freezing in the house. We have been using blankets and wearing our housecoats to try and keep warm. Julie has got COPD so she is vulnerable to the cold, it's not good."
The couple have also not been able to have their young grandchildren over to stay as they normally would because the house is too cold. John said their treatment by British Gas has been "diabolical".
He added: "Julie has been in tears quite a few times because of the frustration of it all. She has rang them every day and been fobbed off. They said it could be 7 to 21 days just to get a reply."
John and Julie have been married for 43 years, as well as their difficulties with British Gas they are facing an uncertain situation at work. They both work on the shop floor for Halewood-based car parts firm IAC. This week the ECHO revealed that as many as 87 redundancies could be made at the plant, with members currently voting on potential strike action. Both John and Julie are waiting for news on how they will be affected.
John added: "The work situation is a worry, it has just topped everything off really."
Of the few times they have made contact with British Gas, the couple said they were told the company believes they tried to cancel their gas supply. John said: "We have never tried to cancel it in 43 years, this is their mistake and we are worried we will end up paying for it.
"We would like an explanation and to have our normal gas supply put back on. We certainly don't want to owe them money, after all this they should owe us really."
A British Gas spokesperson said: “We would like to apologise to Mr and Mrs Murphy for the issues with their meter. An engineer visited the property last night to exchange it and they are now back on supply.”
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