ELDERLY Lancaster residents enjoying their newly installed gas central heating were left stunned this week after disconnection notices dropped through their letterboxes.

The pensioners, who live in council bungalows in Morley Close, claim they had not even been sent a bill and the cut-off threat from British Gas came out of the blue.

The utility company has apologised to the residents, many of whom are partially-sighted or disabled, and has promised to send someone round personally to discuss the mix up.

But one of the residents, Mrs Rosemary Robson, said: "Most of the residents are in their 80s and have been worrying themselves sick about this. "We had gas central heating fitted by the council and a lot of them were worried about getting big bills that they could not afford. We had been asking British Gas to send us a bill and then we get a letter which says they've got a warrant from the Justice of the Peace to cut us off unless we pay £88.95. I can fight my own battles but there's quite a few who have been really worried by this."

A British Gas spokesman told the Citizen: "We apologise and our message to the residents is don't panic. There's not going to be any disconnections and the residents should not worry. We are getting to the bottom of what exactly has happened and will be sending someone out to speak to the residents personally as soon as we can. Any elderly residents who have been served with a disconnection notice should call us on 0645 555601."

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