AN Evesham family, including a two-year-old toddler, shivered through one of the coldest weekends of the winter last week - all for the sake of 10p.

This week, 44-year-old Cliff Minors hit out at British Gas operatives, who he claimed were "rude and totally without compassion".

He said that after waiting for threequarters of a hour he was told by a customer services agent that it was his own fault that he hadn't put enough money into the pre-payment meter at his home in Rynal Place, Evesham.

"They said that when I paid back for emergency gas I had already used, British Gas also took a percentage of the money," Cliff said.

"I had never heard about this before but when I asked for more information the woman became extremely rude."

Cliff, his partner Sharon and children Hannah, 16, Jamie, 13, and two-year-old Jake, were at home when the gas supply ran out on Saturday.

"Last Friday I used the last money we had to put gas into the meter to see us through the weekend," said Cliff, who is jobless.

"Though I put enough credit on the card to put back the emergency credit used, plus some extra credit, the gas ran out on Saturday night.

''When I attempted to call up the emergency credit again, the meter said that it had already been used.

"After waiting 35 minutes to get connected to the out-of-hours service, I was rudely informed that when buying back emergency credit, British Gas take back a percentage as well, something I've never heard of.

"Despite informing them that I have a two-year-old son, no money until the Monday, and was without heating, hot water or the ability to cook, I was told I did not warrant someone calling out to place further emergency credit on the meter, even though this would have been brought back on the Monday.

"I found their attitude to be offensive and was cut off when I tried to explain the situation further. If this is the way British Gas treats its customer, no wonder people are looking at alternative suppliers."

BG spokeswoman Donna Davies said 10p had prevented the family re-accessing the emergency supply.

"If they had put another pound on the card they would have been able to get the emergency gas. The payment put on to the card on the Friday was 10p less than the amount of emergency gas they had already used, so they could not use the emergency supply again.

"I'm sorry if Mr Minors didn't get the standard of customer service he expected, but my understanding is a member of staff rang off when he became abusive towards her."