An energy firm has apologised after a Bradford woman said a salesman misled her into switching gas and electricity supplier.

Amanda White said a man who knocked at her door said he knew she was a British Gas customer and that he worked for a company affiliated with British Gas.

He told her she was entitled to a rebate and gave her a form to sign, she said.

Mrs White said it was only after he had left and she read the form fully, that she realised she had agreed to sign up to Scottish Power.

She said she feared older, more vulnerable people, could be signed over to the company without realising what was happening.

Mrs White, of Bottomley Street, Buttershaw, Bradford, said: “What’s bothering me is if people can do this, if you get an old woman faced with these kind of people, they won’t know they’ve changed. It would be very confusing for them. I just hope it helps somebody else not to fall for that. Read everything and do not take people for who they say they are when they turn up at your door without checking.”

A spokesman for Scottish Power said: “When we received a telephone call from Mrs White to question the switch, we immediately stopped the process.

“After the contact from Mrs White, disciplinary action was taken against the sales agent. We must stress that during the call, Mrs White did not claim that the sales agent had falsely represented himself. We would like to sincerely apologise to Mrs White however, as clearly the process was not handled satisfactorily.’’