A WEYMOUTH pensioner was surprised to get his latest bill from British Telecom - for nothing.

Raymond Thompson, 69, who lives in the town centre, says he is now thinking about having the demand for payment of £0.00 framed.

Retired landscape gardener Mr Thompson said: "It's the lowest phone bill I've ever had. I've heard of people getting bills for huge amounts of money, but I've never heard of anyone getting a bill for nothing.

"I am so amazed, I'm thinking about getting it framed. BT told me it could be a computer error, but I don't understand how it could have happened."

Mr Thompson, who moved into his new flat with his wife, Jean, at the beginning of October, claims the bill is part of a catalogue of errors during the last two months. He claims BT took eight days to install an emergency phone line for his wife, who is paralysed down the left side of her body, and that he has been sent two other bills that were not meant for him.

He said: "My wife needs the phone in case anything happens when I'm not at home. I called BT on October 9 to try to get the line installed as an emergency, but the engineer didn't come until October 17.

"I spent hours on the phone, but was passed from person to person. When the engineer came to the house, it only took him five minutes - I don't see why it couldn't have been done sooner. The first telephone number BT gave me was for the flat upstairs, so they had to change it - it was inconvenient because I had already told friends and relatives the number."

The angry pensioner says he has also received a bill for his neighbour's flat and another one for £59 that he was told to ignore.

He said: "I am not impressed - it takes time and money to send out these bills and I can't believe I'm the only one affected. It makes me wonder whether we are all paying more than we should for the services we get."

A spokesman for British Telecom said: "The confusion has arisen because Mr Thompson's home is registered on our computer as a single property, but there is more than one flat.

"The extra bills and any delays were because we thought Mr Thompson was taking over his neighbour's phone line. The bill for £0.00 was sent to cancel the previous bill - we have to let customers know formally that they don't owe us anything."