A Bradford nurse was horrified when he received a telephone bill for more than £6,000 from British Telecom.

The demand for £6,169.95 was sent in error to James Poole, of Denholme.

"I nearly died when I saw it," said Mr Poole. "BT is lucky they are dealing with a fit and healthy man."

Mr Poole, who works at a Bingley nursing home, said he received two letters from BT.

The first was a bill and the second was a demand for immediate payment in cash.

"It said if I did not pay the full amount within three days my line would be cut off. I don't know what would have happened if I had been away on holiday," he said.

On contacting BT, Mr Poole said he was told the letters had been sent in error and to ignore them.

"They said I would have had to have been on the phone to Russia for ten years to run up a bill like that," said Mr Poole, whose usual monthly bill is less than £30.

The second letter also said he had issued a cheque for payment which had been stopped by the bank.

"I have never written a cheque for my phone bill, it is paid by direct debit," he said.

A spokesman for BT said: "We did send a letter to Mr Poole advising him that a cheque had been referred to drawer and that the amount payable was outstand-ing.

"It was sent in error and we have written to the customer to apologise for our mistake."

But Mr Poole said: "The letter had my name, customer number and address on it. To all intents and purposes it was addressed to me for my account. BT should take more care in future."