Elderly couple billed £500 by Virgin for ordering hundreds of porn films

An elderly couple have been billed £500 by their TV company for ordering hundreds of pornographic films. Great-grandparents Ron Hayward, 74, and wife Ann, 71, were stunned when Virgin Media demanded the money, saying 150 pay-per-view adult films had been streamed to their cable TV account. It is the second time the couple, from Reddish, have been caught in a row over porn films with Virgin. In 2009 they were also accused of ordering £190 of adult movies.Virgin eventually tore up the bill and turned off the couple’s service.

But earlier this year the couple decided to resubscribe to the catch-up and on-demand services. Within days, dozens of adult films had been ordered, seemingly from the couple’s address, including 14 in one day. Virgin has again waived the charge – but the couple say they have been told they will be liable for any future bills if they want the TV services reconnecting. Mrs Hayward, a retired nursery nurse said: “It feels to us just like groundhog day. We had this problem before and we thought when we re-applied to be connected that Virgin would have solved the problem of what went wrong previously.



“The family all think it is really funny – Ron’s also gets ribbed at the post office where he gets asked if he’s seen any good films lately.” Virgin say the films must have been accessed from the couple’s account. A spokesman said: “Adult content can only be viewed after an individual PIN number is given by the household, ensuring people can safely watch what they choose. We’ve made sure Mr and Mrs Hayward’s service is PIN-protected and their TV set-top box will no longer be able to view age-restricted content.”

Mrs Hayward added: “I would like to make a direct appeal to Sir Richard Branson, to say to him he needs to sort it out. We are loyal customers, we were told by a manager at Virgin that we can have the catch-up, which is what we want, but we have to take on demand as well, which we don’t want. We were also told if we have the service again we will be expected to sign an agreement to say we are liable for any more film orders. We feel like we are being penalised.”