AN angry British Gas customer took one of its vans hostage behind the electronic gates of his home in protest at poor service.

Alan Dunville, 55, locked an engineer's van inside the grounds of his home in protest at spending almost a week without heating. Then he threatened not to release it until a manager arrived to explain why the boiler at his home in Seaham Grange, County Durham, could not be repaired.

British Gas said its engineers re-started the boiler several times using new parts and still the 18-year-old heating system broke down. Eventually it referred him to the manufacturer, which had stopped making that type of boiler in 1988.

Mr Dunville said: "The service plan says they will respond in 24 hours, which they did. But they cannot fix it. If the first engineer had realised that, I could have had a new boiler by now."

A British Gas spokesman said: "Our engineers do their best when they visit customers and we are very dismayed to hear about the action taken by Mr Dunville to prevent our vehicle from leaving his property."

The police were called to persuade Mr Dunville to release the vehicle.