A BOGUS gas man, who turned out to be the genuine article, has been handing out door-step safety advice.

Muj Yousaf sparked a police investigation after crossed-wires created confusion over a missing gas bill.

The Examiner reported last week how mother-of-one Lindsey Park, 34, of Birks Road, Longwood, raised the alarm after a man purporting to be from British Gas turned up at her house and threatened to turn off her supply.

Lindsey rang her aircraft engineer fiancé Clive Noel, 36, before the gas man left. She later rang the police.

But the bogus caller was actually the real thing.

Mr Yousaf had gone to the house to clear up an account which stemmed from when the house was built.

John Jessup from British Gas said: "Because the current occupants are not British Gas customers, confusion grew and ended up with them reporting our man to the police.

"We always encourage customers to be on the lookout for bogus callers and not let anyone in their home who they are unsure about.

"As they obviously had doubts in this case, even though Muj had offered them his ID card, they did exactly the right thing in refusing to let him in."

Mr Jessup said if anyone called claiming to be from British Gas they should offer their ID card which has their photo on it and a phone number on the back to confirm who they are.