West Yorkshire man who went viral after £2 trillion cheque considered cashing it 'for a laugh'
A man who received a £2 trillion compensation payment after a clerical error by Northern Powergrid says he considered cashing it "for a laugh".
He asked the power supplier on Twitter, "Before I bank the cheque however, are you 100% certain you can afford this?"
Gareth's witty exchange attracted tens of thousands of likes and retweets, and prompted amusing replies from others asking for a share of the amount.
But he says he and his wife thought about trying to bank it.
He told ITV News: "I just laughed – I just knew straight away it was an error.
"My wife laughed as well and we started discussing what we should do next.
"Should we phone Powergrid up to query it or should we try and bank it for a laugh and see how long it takes before it comes back as bounced?"
The utility company said 74 customers had been affected by the error - and it had stopped all the cheques when it was alerted to the mistake.
A spokeswoman for Northern Powergrid said: “As soon as we identified the clerical error, which was caused by the electricity meter reference number being incorrectly quoted as the payment sum, we ensured all 74 customers’ cheques were stopped so they could not be cashed."
Asked what he would have spent the money on, Gareth said he would have shared the cash with those struggling to pay utility bills – and bought himself a season ticket for his beloved Featherstone Rovers.
"It would be good to see them in the Super League and I am sure a few pounds towards the squad wouldn't go amiss," he said.