A businessman was left hanging on the telephone after being told he was making too many calls.

Jonathan Howell, of Moss Carr Road, Long Lee, Keighley, was speechless when Yorkshire Cable said he was no longer entitled to use its service because he was making more than £100 of calls a month.

And the 30-year-old said he was even more baffled when he was sent a letter asking him to settle an unpaid direct debit bill for £0. His confusion then turned to fury when his phone was disconnected the following day.

Even though he was reconnected with hours, the communication breakdown left the young entrepreneur bewildered and angry.

Jonathan, who runs his IT management and web design business FNS Limited from home, uses Yorkshire Cable's high user discount scheme.

He said: "Before I received the letter about the unpaid bill I had another letter saying I had an unusually high number of phone calls and they asked me to phone them and explain it. I phoned them up and told them I was doing some training over the phone with someone from Ireland and they said that was fine and they wouldn't disconnect me.''

He added: "When I queried their general policy of running up no more than £100 of calls a month they claimed it was there to safeguard both customers and themselves.

"But I believe that if they are introducing new tariffs or conditions they should inform people rather than disconnect them without consultation."

A Yorkshire Cable spokesman said: "We are unable to discuss the specific details of individual customers' accounts. The company has, however, apologised to Mr Howell and has now re-instated his telephone service.

"We hope this matter can be resolved to Mr Howell's satisfaction.''

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