'They must think I’m a footballer or something...' Pensioner sent tax bill for £4,742,354,255

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs even gave the man the option to pay £950million a month.

15:19 02 February 2015

78-year-old Doug Yeoman, who lives on the state pension, was sent tax bill for £4.7billion and was given by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs an option to pay £950million a month until the bill is paid off.

Doug, who retired as a maintenance man, said: ‘I opened the letter and saw the amount and thought to myself, ‘I’d better start cutting down on the food bill then’.

‘They must think I’m a footballer or something, but I don’t even think that Russian bloke who owns Chelsea could afford that amount.’

A spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs said: ‘We are very sorry to hear of the problems our customer has had and are very sorry about our error.

‘We don’t talk about individual cases but when we make mistakes we aim to put them right fast and apologise.’

Doug added: ‘I think I can probably just about afford the £255, but I think the rest might be pushing it a bit.’