Portsmouth woman who has 13 cats says she is '˜discriminated against' after SSE cancels her boiler cover

Tracey Webb's contract for boiler cover at her Portsmouth home was cancelled without her being told after a visit from a Southern and Scottish Energy employee earlier this month.

The 51-year-old animal lover was a customer for seven years and said she was later told the reason for the decision was because she has too many cats.

SSE said the contract was cancelled on health and safety grounds due to the presence of large amounts of cat faeces in the property.

Mrs Webb, who lives with her partner at Queen's Road, said: '˜That's just not true, the engineer just didn't like that I had so many cats around.

'˜I've paid every month for years and now I've got no boiler cover because I'm being discriminated against for having 13 cats.

'˜I know I'm excessive, but will SSE not insure people with pets then? People have dogs and cats so is everyone going to get barred?

'˜My cats are my life, my salvation, two of them I rescued myself from Greece.

'˜I only realised something was wrong when I noticed SSE hadn't taken money from me, I had to phone them and ask why.'

Tracey said she was paying £22.68 a month and also had gas and electric with SSE, which SSE said she has now switched to another company.

Due to human error SSE failed to tell Tracey her insurance had been cancelled. Tracey said the company tried to tell her it was her bank's fault.

She added: '˜I'm really angry and upset about this, I'm just an animal lover and it's not fair when I've been a loyal customer.'

A spokesman from SSE said the decision to void the contract came from the boiler engineer who visited Tracey's home.

He said: '˜The contract was cancelled on health and safety grounds due to the presence of large amounts of cat faeces in the property.

'˜This is in line with the terms and conditions in our contracts.

'˜It is our view that our colleagues must not be required to work in an unsafe or unhealthy environment and for that reason we stand by our engineer's decision to recommend the contract were voided.

'˜Unfortunately, due to human error, the decision to cancel the contract was not properly communicated to Mrs Webb.

'˜We acknowledge this should have been better communicated. We have attempted to contact Mrs Webb multiple times to apologise but as yet have been unable to get through.'

Tracey rescued two of her cats, Margot and Bob, while volunteering at the charity Skiathos Cat Welfare Association in Greece, and plans to return next year.