It is not the fact that Judith Fairburn is dying that should make her exempt from settling an outstanding energy bill.

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But terminal breast and bone cancer did make it impossible for her to
run up the debt at her former home in Cookridge.

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For the last eight months the 55-year-old has been living FIVE miles away in sheltered accommodation at Rawdon, where she is visited twice a day by social workers.

Ms Fairburn moved to the bungalow after she was discharged from St James' Hospital where she had been an in-patient for FIVE months.
Ambulance

Since March 15 2008 – the day she was taken by ambulance to hospital – Ms Fairburn has only returned to the Cookridge address to collect post, having by this point split from her husband.

She now also spends one day a week at Wheatfields Hospice in Headingley.

Yet attempts by Ms Fairburn to make her point heard have so far failed.

Letters have TWICE been sent by her solicitor and social care worker to Scottish Power outlining the facts.

Yet the power company continues to send in demands for money.

These have now starting arriving directly to her new home in Rawdon.

The largest sum was for £498.77, thought to be estimated for both gas and electricity use over a 13-month period.

A month later the amount was amended

to £448.23 – £162.93 for electricity used from June to November 2008, and £285.30 on gas for November 2008 to February 2009.

A day later a third estimated bill was sent by Scottish Power, this time for £217.98 based on electricity used between December 2008 and February 2009.

The latest bailiff threat arrived on Tuesday, April 14, from debt collectors SPM Collections demanding £85.39.

"I have tried being blunt," said Ms Fairburn.

"I have phoned and told them that I am dying; that I don't need people
phoning me and chasing me for money, furniture or taking me to court.

"These are my last days. I don't want to be spending them fighting over
an energy bill.

"All they (Scottish Power] have said is that they won't wipe the bill clean because I haven't ever attempted to pay even part of it.

"This is not just affecting me, but I worry that my daughter is close to breaking point.

"She has been trying to talk sense into them but nothing has been done."

* After YEP's Consumerwatch had spoken to Ms Fairbairn, a spokeswoman for Scottish Power said the company had known nothing about Ms Fairburn's personal circumstances until a letter arrived in early April of this year from her social worker.

Yet she confirmed that a letter had arrived from the Citizen's Advice Bureau in February stating that while she co-owned the Cookridge property she had not been living at the address.

She said that the last phone call received from the family dated back to June 2008.

The spokeswoman added that the company sympathised with the situation and had now cleared all debts from the account.

She said that Ms Fairburn's name and address had also been removed from the system.