Army veteran owes £ 1,400 and fights to pay bills ‘could die in Christmas’

An Army veteran believes he can ‘die in Christmas’ because he faces heartbreaking choices in heating or eating due to the rising cost of living.

George Ford, 75, from Hal, currently owes more than 4 1,400 to energy companies and says he has no idea how he will carry the fuel surge, with a complete choice between heating or eating.

The pensioner says he lost about two stones a month as he struggled with heat and eating capacity, Hullive reported.

George told GB News: “I’m sitting here until the lights go out at 10pm. I make a flask of coffee or tea so I last all the time so I’m not using so much but my bill never seems to go down, I can’t afford it.

“I know that the things I suffer from, COPD, heart problems, no feeling in my hands or feet, I don’t think I’ll survive Christmas because I can’t keep myself warm.”

“I am sorry for so many pensioners here, it is going to hurt them so much. This is going to hit foodbanks harder. Honestly, I just feel like dying. “

And despite his own food and heating problems, George still volunteers at the recent Benny Street Foodbank and says he’s sorry for the other pensioners because of the rising energy prices.

He said: “I will not take anything from the food bank because there are families who need it, children who need it more than me.”

Robbie Keane, founder of Benny Street Foodbank near Anlaby Road, says he has seen a huge increase in the number of pensioners going to the food bank.

He said: “We are seeing a tremendous increase in the number of pensioners using Foodbank and we are very concerned. These pensioners are very worried and scared.

“We have seen an increase in people who have never used a food bank before. It has increased by about 30-50 percent.

“Rising prices in supermarkets is very scary. There is also a lot of people in the work poverty and it is also increasing and it has really increased in the last two to three weeks,

Many fear that the charitable warning about the energy price hike, which came into effect on Friday, warns that 2.5 million households are facing “energy pressures” as domestic energy bills continue to rise.

Citizens Advice believes that nearly five million people will be unable to pay their energy bills by April, even counting the support the government has already announced.

Energy prices are set to rise again in October, a figure that is expected to triple as 14 million energy bills are forecast to be unable to be paid.

In addition to a 54 percent increase in the price cap hit bill of Offjem, the Resolution Foundation think tank says that the number of English families in fuel stress – who spend at least 10 percent of their total budget on fuel bills – will double from 2.5 to 5 million overnight.

Jonathan Marshall, a senior economist at the foundation, said: “Today’s increase in the fuel price cap will double the number of households under energy pressure to five million.

“Another increase in the fuel bill this autumn raises the need for more immediate assistance, as well as a clear, long-term strategy to improve home insulation.

“Increasing renewable and nuclear power generation, and reforming the energy market so that household energy bills become less dependent on global gas prices.”