PROTESTERS dressed up as old people to demonstrate in Oxford yesterday over fuel poverty.

Nine campaigners from the Reclaim the Power group, which claimed 6,000 died in the UK because of fuel poverty last year, stood outside the British Gas in John Smith Drive all morning.

They brandished a giant ‘bill of wrongs’ listing what they claimed were the ‘faulty’ policies of British Gas and other energy firms, and attempted unsuccessfully to make contact with and speak to staff inside the building. The individuals, who had been at a three-day camp near Didcot power station last weekend, wore make-up, shawls and blanket to highlight how old people are the most affected by fuel poverty.

Campaigner Helen Rockliff, 35, said: “It’s awful that in a country as rich as England, so many people are dying through not being able to heat their homes over the winter.”

She said thousands of people were dying because they could not heat their homes while British Gas made millions of pounds of profit.

She added: “We wanted to get British Gas to have a conversation with us about it.

“They said someone was going to come out and talk to us but they didn’t and we ended up just getting an official response from their media office.”

Ms Rockliff, who recently gained a PhD in mental health at Bristol University, said: “I also come at it from a medical point of view.

“Fuel poverty cost the NHS £1.37 billion last year and contributes to a struggling NHS. We need to call on big companies like British Gas to take responsibility.”

Tim Cowen for British Gas said the firm would not be drawn into a dialogue with protesters but issued a statement which said: “We have the broadest eligibility for the Warm Homes Discount of all major energy suppliers.

“We have nearly 1.5m customers registered on our priority services, which offers help for elderly, disabled or chronically ill customers.”