A widow in Oxford was threatened with bailiffs by a telecommunications firm, months after she cancelled a Digital TV service and settled the bill.

Cynthia Green with correspondence from ntl and its debt collection agency

Cynthia Green, 71, cancelled her husband Peter's ntl subscription after he died in April last year.

When the Oxford Mail contacted ntl, the company cancelled legal proceedings against Mrs Green and sent her a bouquet of flowers.

Odette Sullivan, a spokesman for ntl, said: "We've contacted the debt collection agencies to resolve the matter. We would like to send Mrs Green our sympathies."

Mrs Green cancelled the direct debit to ntl for the line rental in October last year, her husband's contract with the company expired.

The service was disconnected and her son later returned the digital box.

But Mrs Green, of Cress Hill Place, Headington, continued to receive monthly bills in her husband's name and extra charges for failing to pay by direct debit.

She continued to receive bills and threatening letters, despite numerous phone calls and letters to ntl to explain that her husband was dead and the subscription had been cancelled.

The final straw came when she received a letter giving her a five-day deadline to pay off a bill for £89.86 or face bailiffs and court action.

When she contacted ntl to ask why she was still being billed, she was told the service had not been cancelled.

She said: "I'm sick of telling them my husband's dead. Why should I keep phoning and telling them?

"The stress of losing my husband, then all this is getting too much for me.

"I've never been in debt, and this has all been really upsetting."