An irate Sidcup man has made an official complaint to BT after he received a £1200 mobile phone bill when trying to get a landline installed.

Chris Turpin, of Stonehill Woods Park in Old London Road, moved to the retirement park from Sydenham earlier this year and spent two months trying to contact BT to get the situation.

The 58-year-old said he was forced to use his Vodafone mobile to call BT because there is no free payphone on the complex and he "couldn't use a neighbour's phone for hours on end'.

He said: "The whole situation has been a complete farce.

"BT offered me a £50 goodwill voucher but that is just not good enough.

"The landline should have installed on February 27 but BT said the workmen couldn't find the communication spur which was buried in error.

"BT uses contractors from Openreach and I couldn't contact them directly.

"After weeks and weeks of trying to get the problem sorted out it wasn't until April 7 did the problem get sorted out and they sent out a workman from Croydon who sorted it out in less than an hour."

BT say they give customers free ways to contact them including by landline and by call box.

Mr Turpin said: "There is not a call box on the retirement park and I couldn't use my neighbour's phone for hours on end.

"The size of my mobile bill is testament to how long I have had to spend on the phone to BT.

"I want the company to give me a bigger contribution than £50, that is just unacceptable." A BT spokesman said: "The BT Retail team have been in recent contact with Mr Turpin.

"Our records show that delays occurred due to a property developer not having completed their work at Mr Turpin’s new house, which in-turn delayed the installation of service.

"BT have already written to Mr Turpin offering a £50 goodwill gesture and informed him that we would not cover the cost of the mobile phone bill.

"This is because BT provides the choice of free routes to contact us, such as BT payphones and UK BT landlines.

"It is the choice of the customer to contact BT using a service that charges.

"As BT provides free service routes to contact us, we would not cover calls to us that incur a charge."