Northern Powergrid has been forced to apologise to dozens of customers after accidentally issuing compensation cheques for £2.3 trillion.
Following the aftermath of the “once in a generation” Storm Arwen – which back in late November and early December, left thousands of homes in the north of England and widespread parts of Scotland without any electricity during some of the oldest months of the year – Northern Powergrid is currently in the process of paying compensation to tens of thousands of customers who suffered power outages.
But it didn’t all go to plan for the energy distributor.
In a now-viral tweet, one customer took to social media to share a picture of a compensation cheque showing the eye-watering sum of £2.3 trillion, and asked if the company are “100% certain you can afford this?”.
Cheque recipient Gareth Hughes wrote on Twitter over the weekend: “Thank you for our compensation payment Northern Powergrid for the several days we were without power following Storm Arwen.
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“Before I bank the cheque however, are you 100% certain you can afford this?”
Mr Hughes told Sky News the letter “just made me laugh”.
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“I knew straight away it wouldn’t be honoured, but it was nice to dream for a couple of minutes,” he comically added.
Within hours of sharing the photo of the hilarious mistake, the tweet went onto amass tens of thousands of likes, retweets, and comments from people unable to believe the situation had happened, wishing they’d got a cheque with that sum too, and telling Mr Hughes they “so would have banked it” if it was them.
It turns out that Mr Hughes wasn’t the only one to have received a cheque with an accidentally-inflated sum though, as other people have since come forward to say the same happened to them, and the energy supplier has also confirmed that 74 of its customers had been given compensation cheques with an incorrect payment amount.
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The company thanked those who were “honest” about the error.
After the tweet went viral, Northern Powergrid were forced to reply to Mr Hughes to apologise for the incident, explaining: “Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Please DM us your contact details including address and postcode so we can correct this oversight.
Hi Gareth, Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Please DM us your contact details including address and postcode so we can correct this oversight. thanks, Phil.
In response to another customer in the same position, who called the company out for its “staggering level of incompetence”, Northern Powergrid said: “There have been some cheques issued with the incorrect amount for which we are sorry [and] our team are going to re issue the correct cheques early next week.”
They also asked for the customer to confirm their details so that the situation “can be processed as quickly as possible.”
A spokesperson for Northern Powergrid said following the incident: “As soon as we identified the clerical error, which was caused by the electricity meter reference number being incorrectly quoted as the payment sum, we ensured all 74 customers’ cheques were stopped so they could not be cashed.
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“We have been investigating how this error happened and carrying out checks of previous payments.
“All indications are that this was an isolated incident.
“We thank those customers who were honest and contacted us and we have been making contact directly over the weekend with all 74 customers affected to make them aware, apologise for the error and reassure them that a correct payment will be issued to them on Monday.”
Featured Image – Wikipedia Commons
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Stockport County’s Christmas dinner in a cup returns for 2025 as part of new festive food range
Danny Jones
We can’t believe it’s rolled around again already, but with the festive period well underway and the big day just a few weeks away, Stockport County have brought back their viral ‘Xmas dinner in a cup’for 2025.
Better still, the County Courtyard has seen some new Christmas specials added to its food menu, too.
The local football club are absolutely flying in League One at the moment, having spent plenty of time at the top of the table already and still well and truly contesting those promotion/play-off spots.
If you’re a Stopfordian, that’s plenty of cause for celebration right there, but with the Christmas dinner in a cup also up for grabs once more, the holiday season literally couldn’t taste any better right now.
For those who’ve never seen it before, it’s exactly what it says on the tin – well, cup: a little Sunday dinner in a County-branded takeaway coffee cup, complete with a healthy pour of gravy and pretty much all the trimmings you could hope for.
Yes, including sprouts, because all of you who still don’t touch them need to grow up already.
Currently priced at just £4.50, not only does it contain virtually all the major food groups (barring the customary matchday pints, of course), it might just be one of the healthiest and best value-for-money bits of footy scran around – certainly in Greater Manchester, anyway.
But, as mentioned, that’s not all this year; Stockport are also serving up the new festive hot dog and even a ‘leftover Christmas curry’ in a bowl, which might even be more warming on a cold night at Edgeley Park than the Xmas dinner in a cup or clinging onto a flask of Bovril.
Anyone else craving that curry with a cheeky bit of bubble and squeak now?
It’s also worth noting that you’ll only be able to get one of those on Boxing Day, by the way, when the Hatters host Lincoln City in the league.
As for the rest of it, County fans can get their hands on this seasonal scran for the first time this year at the weekend when Dave Challinor’s side take on Barnsley at 12:30pm, and two of the three specials will then be served at home every game over the holiday period.
Speaking of random Christmas food creations, there’s another limited-time-only and potentially divisive example that we’ll also be sampling this December…
Aldi has launched the world’s first lickable pigs in blankets wrapping paper… for some reason
Emily Sergeant
Aldi has launched its latest Christmas creation, and this one’s arguably wackier than anything else it’s brought out before.
There’s absolutely no denying that pigs in blankets are a staple of festive feasting, with millions of the little delicacies consumed throughout the UK each Christmas, but have you ever wished you could turn the taste of those pigs in blankets into a lickable wrapping paper to wrap all this year’s gifts in? Yeah probably not… Aldi‘s made it though.
It’s anticipated that more than 561 million pigs in blankets are going to be eaten over the festive period, new research has found, which is an average of 10 per person.
But if you just can’t bare to leave the taste of pigs in blankets behind, Aldi’s new wrapping paper is set to give shoppers a fun and tasty twist when it comes to gift-giving.
The limited-edition wrapping paper is inspired by Aldi’s very-own range of pigs in blankets, and is described as capturing the smoky, savoury flavour and smell of the festive treat, with stickers that peel back to reveal a truly unique ‘lickable’ experience.
Aldi has launched the world’s first lickable pigs in blankets wrapping paper / Credit: Simon Jacobs/PA Wire (via Aldi UK)
Not only does the novelty wrapping paper taste and smells like pigs in blankets, it also looks the part on presents too with its pastel pink design, festive holly, and snowflake patterns.
“Pigs in Blankets are a highlight of the festive season… so we wanted to create something special to celebrate the Christmas classic,” commented Julie Ashfield, who is the Chief Commercial Officer at Aldi UK, as the new creation launches.
“This unique, lickable wrapping paper is the perfect way to spread extra joy on Christmas Day.”
Want to get your hands on it then? Unfortunately, it won’t be as simple as popping to your nearest Aldi store and picking up a roll, as with a creation as unique as this, there’s only going to be limited stock and a special shopper competition to win it.
To be in with a chance of winning, you simply need to email [email protected] with your full name before the deadline at 11:59pm on 1 December.
Emily Sergeant -
14th February 2022 
