Couple hounded for nine years over the bill they didn't owe

The firm kept sending bailiffs to Amanda and Mark Lane's home to collect £3,300 in unpaid bills that had nothing to do with the couple.

The Lanes even installed 10ft electric gates at their £3million eight-bedroom home to keep out the debt collectors.

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They have been receiving a string of final demands ever since a £200 bill dropped through their letterbox in 1998.

The couple proved in court they did not owe the company a penny, pointing out that British Gas did not even supply their fuel.

But that failed to stop the relentless campaign, which only ended this week when the firm apologised and admitted it was at fault because of a "ghost meter" in its system.

Mrs Lane, 46, said yesterday: "A few months ago I caught a burlylooking bailiff trying to scale our gate. That was the last straw. It's just been endless misery and we want it to stop.

"It made me quite frightened about leaving the house because I never knew when the bailiffs were going to turn up.

"It's ridiculous. We've been getting these bills for nine years but they're addressed to a Mrs Lyle, who has never lived here.

"Every month they come out to try to read the meter. It's like having the Gestapo on your doorstep."

Mrs Lane, of Maidstone, Kent, added: "We've caught gasmen snooping around our house all hours of the day.

"I just tell them to get lost and say what they are doing is illegal."

Mr Lane, a 52-year- old company director, said: "It has been a horrendous experience - there is no excuse for mistakes this big."

The gas industry watchdog Energywatch backed the couple after they won a small claims court case in 2003. The watchdog told British Gas, which makes £3million profit a day, to get its house in order.

But since then another 100 final demands have been sent to the Lanes by British Gas.

Earlier this year it was announced that complaints against British Gas almost tripled following the introduction of a billing system which overestimates costs.

Customers' direct debits were set too high and some complained that British Gas took payments from their bank accounts even though they had switched to a rival energy supplier.

A record-breaking 21,427 customers complained about British Gas between October 2006 and March 2007, against 8,012 for the same period the previous year.

That is nearly three times more than the total number of complaints about all other energy companies put together.

Mrs Lane said: "It's been so stressful - we just want an end to it. Every time we seem to make a bit of progress we go right back to square one."

"Their internal communications are truly dreadful."

British Gas this week admitted the problems had been caused by a "ghost meter" at a cottage in the grounds of the couple's stately home - and they promised to call off the bailiffs.

A spokesman said a serial number for a gas meter had been incorrectly recorded as showing a live supply to a cottage in the grounds of the couple's estate.

British Gas admitted it had never even supplied gas to the cottage after Mrs Lane sent copies of several bills from EDF to British Gas to prove this.

The spokesman added: "This ghost meter should have been deleted from our system years ago. It's not good enough that we did not do this before and we are sorry that it has caused ongoing frustration for the family.

'As an apology we will make a donation to a charity of the Lanes' choice."