Twitter users turn the heat on British Gas director

British Gas may have regretted hosting an online question and answer forum, just hours after announcing an above-inflation price hike after facing a torrent of abuse from Twitter users.

The Q&A was one of the top 10 trending topics as hundreds of customers took to the site to vent their anger towards customer services director Bert Pijls at the rise as these responses show:

Even an employee of the company tweeted their disapproval at the rise:

Mr Pijls reiterated the company's stance that the decision to raise prices was not taken lightly.

He said the three main reasons behind the hike were: "1. Wholesale price rises 2. Improvements needed to pipes & wires 3. Cost of govt programmes."

The British Gas social media team posted a picture of Mr Pijls sitting in an office answering questions - but even that opened up criticism from Twitter users.

One wrote: "Nice to see him only wearing a shirt and no jumper. Bet all the free gas/electricity is going down a storm in the offices."

Read: British Gas urges 'worried' customers to contact them

Read: David Cameron calls British Gas price rises 'disappointing'