Bassetlaw mum-of-four unable to top up power slams British Gas

The 50-year-old, who did not want to be named, said British Gas no longer allowed energy customers to use Pay Points to pay for household power.

Instead, they had switched to Pay Zone - with the nearest branch almost two-and-a-half miles away in Worksop’s Gateford Road.

The mother-of-four was dumb-struck to be told the news on Thursday this week when she tried to pay for gas and electric at Carlton’s Long Lane One Stop store.

Because she is unable to drive the retail worker told how she faces a five-mile round trip on the bus to pay for power in her home.

She said: “I don’t drive and my mother has a disability so how is she going to manage?

“How are people on low incomes supposed to afford public transport every time they need to pay a bill?

“I’m not the only person in the village in this position - there are a lot of low-income people in this village.

“I worry about old-age pensioners and people with disabilities.”

She added that she was annoyed with the power provider as it appeared they had done nothing to make local shops aware they needed to provide the Pay Zone service for British Gas customers.

A British Gas spokesman said: “We announced we would be ending our contract with PayPoint on December 31 and signed a new contract with the Post Office and PayZone which took effect on January 1, 2020.

“We wrote to all of our customers to inform them about the change in December – this was either by email or post depending on whether we had email addresses for the customer.

“We are working closely with PayZone to ensure that we meet the demands of our customers.

“We have undertaken an analysis of the areas impacted by the change and PayZone has committed to work with British Gas to increase its reach in areas where we foresee we will need additional services