BY DAVID BROWN

Unscrupulous power company salespeople who trick and bully customers into swapping suppliers should be prosecuted, said a government minister this week.

Concerns about the activities of the salespeople in Brent and Harrow has been raised in the House of Commons.

ñI am appalled by some of the techniques being used to trick and harass people into changing their suppliers,î said Brent North MP Barry Gardiner.

ñThe industry regulator needs to take a tougher stance. It is very good at ensuring fair competition but is less good at ensuring the customer is protected.î

The salesman had made competition in the power market a ñnightmare for the 100,000 people every year who fail to understand why they are paying money to people of whom they have never heard'.

An Eastern Electricity salesman tried to trick one Kingsbury householder into signing a contract to provide his gas by pretending it was just a request for information, Mr Gardiner told the Commons.

David Thrale, 37, a Brent Council environmental health officer, said: ñI wasnÍt duped but I was concerned that if I was an elderly person or someone for whom English was not their first language then I would have beenî.

In another case, Seeboard tricked a confused elderly man from Brent into signing up for its gas and electricity during a telephone conversation. Just days earlier the manÍs wife, who was recovering from a stroke, had unwittingly agreed for Eastern Electricity to provide their gas after a conversation with a salesman over her garden fence.

Last month it was revealed a Northern Electric and Gas salesman used the signature of 14-year-old with DownÍs Syndrome to transfer a utility account.

The company blamed a ñclerical errorî for its accepting the signature of Alex Skilton of Harrow View, Harrow.

Mr Gardiner said the Government must press the official regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, to ensure written evidence of a contract is required.

Energy and competitiveness minister Helen Liddell, said: ñIt is important that companies pursue criminal action when there is clear evidence that agents acted in a particular way.

ñI would not want to be confronted with some of the aggressive selling techniques that have been applied on the doorstep.î

A league table of complaints about suppliers will be launched by Ofgem, she revealed.

An Ofgem spokesman said: ñWe are not saying everything is perfect and we will investigate misleading sales brought to our attention. The number of complaints is a very small percentage of the millions of people who have moved from British Gas and some who have moved again to a second supplier.'