A pensioner has slammed his landlord for chasing him over a debt of a penny.

Gordon Clayton was called by his landlord the Regenda Group after accidentally getting into arrears with his rent.

The 85-year-old of Archer Close, Bollington, has promised to pay the 1p back - but believes the cost of pursuing the debt would have far outweighed the money it was chasing.

The social housing firm, which manages 13,000 properties, said it contacts tenants of any arrears, regardless of the amount.

Mr Clayton branded the policy as “a joke”.

The problem arose last month when Mr Clayton tried to pay his rent at the Post Office but accidentally keyed in the wrong amount on a electronic device.

He said: “When I queried why the girl was calling me she seemed to realise how silly it was and sounded very sheepish.

“I told her I will put a cheque in the post. It would have cost them even more than to process it.

“Obviously I was joking.”

Mr Clayton use to work as a manager for a mail order firm and part of his role was dealing with debtors.

He said: “There was always a level or amount you drew the line at and wrote off the debt. I just can’t believe a firm as big as Regenda hasn’t written that penny off. It would have cost them more to make that call in terms of resources than the actually amount they could be recouping. I know we live in penny-pinching times, but that is just stupid.”

A spokesman for Regenda said it takes its responsibilities seriously.

“As an important part of the service we offer we always inform our residents if their rent account suddenly falls into arrears, regardless of the amount. It appears Mr Clayton made an incorrect rent payment which put his account in arrears. He would have been unaware of it and, as a matter of course, we telephoned him. We take our responsibilities as a landlord very seriously and a neighbourhood officer will make an appointment to visit Mr Clayton to reassure him that we only have his best interests at heart.”