A DISABLED woman says she was terrorised by a gas and electricity salesman who harangued her in her home for nearly an hour.

Theresa Crooke said she was left "petrified" after she answered the door of her Darlington home to an agent from npower.

Ms Crooke, 57, was an npower customer, but she had signed a contract agreeing to switch to Scottish Power, which she later cancelled.

She says the npower sales representative questioned her about the changeover and then followed her into the house, without invitation when she went to find some paperwork.

"I couldn't believe it," she said.

"I like to invite people in, but if I'm not sure they don't get over the doorstep."

Once inside the house, the salesman asked to see the Scottish Power contract.

"He said did I know that those people had already applied to take over my account," said Mrs Crooke.

"I said I had cancelled the contract and was still with npower. But he insisted I sign another agreement with npower. When I refused he became a bit agitated. His voice took a different tone. It was like a threatening manner."

Mrs Crooke, who also has poor vision, says she offered to ring npower to clarify the situation, but the man picked up her telephone and made the call himself.

She eventually signed another contract in order to persuade him to leave.

"The man was in here asking questions and giving me this aggressive manner for nearly an hour," she said. "I was petrified. I was absolutely shaking."

Ms Crooke has complained to the company and is planning to close her account.

"I want to leave npower as soon as possible," she said.

"But I also want to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else."

An npower spokesman said the incident was "not satisfactory".

"We are investigating it very seriously to find out what has gone wrong," he said.

"We will take whatever disciplinary steps are necessary. We have apologised to the customer and we will certainly be compensating her for her distress.