'I'll blow your house up': BT customer claims he received death threats after row with call centre worker in India



He is not the first person to have fallen out with a call centre operator.

But when Allan Wardle rang BT after his internet connection crashed, what happened next left him shocked and frightened.

A technician called him back but instead of the problem being resolved a row broke out and, Mr Wardle claims, the technician threatened to blow up his house.

Death threat: Alan Wardle told how an anonymous caller threatened to blow up his house shortly after an argument with a BT call centre worker

'I couldn't believe what I was hearing,' said Mr Wardle, 24. 'I was incensed.

'I was scared at first and then really angry. I called the police straight away.

'I'm disgusted that something like this can happen with such a respected company. The whole thing has been upsetting. It doesn't get much worse than someone - a stranger - saying he is going to blow you up.'

The alleged threat was made just days after Mr Wardle had signed up for BT broadband.

Annoyed at being unable to send emails, he rang the helpline - believed to be in India - and explained the problem to them. He was told to wait by his phone while they investigated his internet connection and promised to call him back.

What happened next left him lost for words.

A heated exchange: Allan Wardle was incensed by the row

As he sat down in front of the television the technician rang and told him he would be unable to fix the problem unless Mr Wardle was online.

The irony of that requirement provoked a heated exchange which ended, Mr Wardle says, when the technician threatened to bomb his home in Wallsend, Tyneside.

'The operator told me that unless I was connected to the internet he couldn't do anything about it,' said the former supermarket worker.

'But I told him again and again if I could get online I wouldn't be calling in the first place.

'It was getting ridiculous. He wouldn't listen and I did swear at him, I think, but he was refusing to fix the problem.

'He was rude and unhelpful, it made me feel sick.

'I now want BT to get to the bottom-of this.' Mr Wardle says he was in no doubt the call had come from BT because the hotline number flashed up on his phone.

After the call, he immediately contacted the police and informed them of the threat he had just received.

He admits he lost his temper during-the call but maintains there was no reason for the technician to threaten him.

Last night, a spokesman for BT said an urgent internal security investigation would be launched into the allegations.

Bosses are expected to study the transcript of the phone calls before taking any further action. Northumbria Police confirmed they had received a complaint and said that officers were treating the case 'extremely seriously'

A spokesman added: 'We have launched an investigation into these complaints.'