My mother, from whom I've been estranged for many years, was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2015 and has been in a secure home ever since. When dealing with the various bills that she had allowed to pile up (as a result of mental impairment rather than lack of funds) most of the bank card and utility companies, were sympathetic and helpful. The exception was British Gas, whose conduct I can only describe as vile – and that is not a word that I use lightly. I phoned at the end of November 2016 to explain my mother's dementia and to pay the bill – even though I am not legally obliged to do so and no-one in my family has Power of Attorney for my mother – and to ask for the gas supply to be cut off because of safety concerns. I explained tha the house was uninhabitable with an ancient boiler & could not be sold until my mother's death (v complicated situation). The person I spoke to seemed largely disinterested in the safety issue, citing 'data protection' as the reason she couldn't help further. No constructive suggestions – such as providing a letter from my mother's GP – were offered to get around this issue. With regards to the estimated bill, this was originally £70 but increased several times over because of late payment charges. I said I would visit in three weeks time (just before Christmas) and take a meter reading and phone back to discuss the final bill. Mea culpa: I did not make it back to my mother's house to take the reading in December – I live 6 hours drive away and in fact forgot all about it – and in January 2017 (2 months later) British Gas applied for a warrant to break into my mother's house with a locksmith, which they subsequently did in February. A neighbour came out to explain the situation; but still they insisted on gaining entry – no attempt to ask for a relative's phone number – to fit a pay as you go meter, which no one had asked for & despite the fact I'd raised safety concerns and asked for the supply to be cut off. Meanwhile, her outstanding bill has been farmed out to a debt collection agency and from an original estimate of £70 is now closer to £600. When I phoned British Gas to ask why they took such extreme steps, they were extremely hardline about it and the customer services manager – lacking any power to do anything and reading from a script – simply repeated, robot-fashion, 'Yes, but your mother hadn't paid her bill since December 2015' to which I kept replying 'Yes, that's because she has dementia and is in a home and you were fully aware of that'. I know from past experience that they are a vile company to deal with even when they know they're in the wrong. (My previous run in was because, they missold me a boiler that was more suited to a five-bedroomed house than a one-bedroom flat & were eventually, on pain of legal proceedings, forced to give me a refund.) The one thing that they kept saying during the boiler debacle was that they had to think of their shareholders – in other words, f* the customers who are being fleeced to provide their dividends – and I imagine that is exactly what they are thinking of now. So I'm posting this for two reasons: to warn others of what you can expect from this company if you have elderly parents suffering from mental impairment; and also to ask if anyone has any advice. My offer to pay the bill still stands – and on that note they won't tell me the final meter reading when they forced access to the house and they seem very reluctant to provide a breakdown of how the bill accumulated from £70 to nearly £600 – but I am not prepared to pay the charges they have racked up by applying for a warrant and employing a locksmith to force entry, as I believe this to be excessive in the circumstances. My guess, incidentally, is that they did this because I'd asked for the gas to be cut off and they wanted to at least keep billing the daily standing charge (and at an increased rate). Hate, hate, hate this company. If anyone knows the legal situation with regards to bills racking up in this way I'd be v grateful. (I've phoned around several charities that deal with the elderly and dementia, but apart from describing British Gas's conduct as 'extreme' they do not seem to know what to suggest.) Thanks in advance.