A businessman who returned from his holiday to find he had racked up an eyewatering £2,500 phone bill has warned others to watch out when taking their mobiles abroad.

Andrew Mear has recently had to pay the whopping bill after 15 months of negotiating with his provider Orange (Now EE) proved fruitless and he was threatened with disconnection.

Mr Mear, who owns a number of property businesses including High Corn Mill in Skipton, had his phone cut off while on a family holiday to Florida in March, 2012.

Before the trip he spoke with the phone provider to ensure he would be protected from roaming charges and set up the necessary precautions to avoid a large bill.

He later found out the disconnection was due to him running up a huge bill in just a few days.

Mr Mear, of Norwood Green, has been an Orange/EE customer for more than 20 years, and was horrified at the £2,534 figure, five times higher than his usual business phone bill.

When he spoke to EE he claims the company told him he should have done more research before the holiday.

He said: “My line of work means I need to be able to access my e-mails as well as make and receive phone calls at all times of the day, so when my phone was cut off I was completely isolated from my business and employees.

“I didn’t worry about checking my e-mails or making phone calls because I had already spoken to the network about my trip and thought I’d set up the required tariff to cushion the costs with the advice of the customer service operative.

“When you speak to a member of the customer services team, you expect them to know about their product, so to be told I should have done my own research too is absolutely ridiculous!

“Over the last year I have tried tirelessly to work with EE to come up with a solution.

“Unfortunately, almost 15 months after the trip, I’ve had to back down and pay the full balance as I was told my phone would be cut off indefinitely, meaning loss of contacts and customers who had been using my phone number for 20 years – so I felt that I really had no choice.

“I just want to warn holidaymakers that as well as trusting what your mobile phone provider tells you, do a little of your own research too, because from my experience or be proactive and request a spending limit on accounts to avoid being overcharged because you simply cannot take the providers recommendation as a given.”

EE was not able to provide a comment to the Telegraph & Argus.