The [pounds sterling]12,000 phone bill a magician can't make disappear; Husband fights 3,793-page demand for 230,000 calls over 15 days.

Byline: EMILY COOK

THERE are few people who have not flinched at the size of their phone bill.

But imagine Nic Picot's horror when a BT demand for nearly [pounds sterling]12,000 arrived at his door - all 3,793 pages of it.

Mr Picot, a professional magician, has been charged for more than 230,000 calls totalling more than 155 hours - roughly one every three seconds at 4.2p each.

They were made during a 15-day period to a number from the family's fax line. But Mr Picot is refusing to pay the bill, insisting he uses the line only for incoming faxes.

Mr Picot, 52, a married father of one, said: 'We thought it was a joke when the itemised bill arrived. It was so big it had to be delivered by courier and my wife wasn't even able to pick it up.

'I have been ringing BT to tell them there has been a mistake, but I always end up speaking to different people and they just keep telling me that I have to pay it.

'Something has to be wrong because I only ever use that line to receive faxes for work.

Now BT have started sending me threatening letters telling me that unless I pay it they will cut me off.' Mr Picot, who once performed at one of Prince William's birthday parties at Kensington Palace, was on holiday in Egypt when the first calls were made to the number for Demon Internet on July 16.

On his return to his home in Watford he says he received a call from BT to say that his phone bill was going to be around [pounds sterling]4,000.

But Mr Picot claims the BT worker was unable to say whether the bill was for the normal phone line or the separate fax line - for which he usually pays [pounds sterling]99 a quarter.

It was only two weeks later, when a non-itemised bill arrived for [pounds sterling]11,704.75, that he discovered the calls had been made on the fax line and unplugged it.

He requested an itemised bill and found that he had been charged [pounds sterling]9,868.49 for call charges and a further [pounds sterling]1,836.36 for service and VAT. The total call time was 155 hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds.

Mr Picot has come up with a possible explanation. He has a device called an ISDN router plugged into his computer.

The router, much like a modem, connects a computer to the Internet and can send out information through the phone line.

Mr Picot believes the router spontaneously started dialling up the Demon number.

The fact that his bill shows around 20 calls per minute - each lasting a few seconds without ever connecting to the number - suggests-some kind of equipment malfunction.

A Demon spokesman said: 'Our technical teams have been in touch with Mr Picot and it appears that a piece of equipment has been dialling the Demon number.

'We have never had any problems with Mr Picot and we hope the matter can be resolved.' Mr Picot added: 'I have been trying to resolve this with BT but at the moment they are being very unsympathetic. We shouldn't be made to pay for calls that haven't been made deliberately. If I had been making hundreds of calls across the world then fair enough.

But I run a small business with my wife and there is no way I could afford to pay this.

'I just want the whole thing to be sorted out because at the moment I cannot sleep for the worry.' A spokesman for BT insisted Mr Picot was responsible for equipment attached to the phone line.

He said: 'Although Mr Picot was unaware that short calls were being made to Demon Internet by his computer at a such a frequent rate, customers are responsible for any equipment connected to BT's lines.

'Mr Picot could have checked his itemised account at any time at www.bt.com or by calling us and we could have put an immediate stop on the line. As a goodwill gesture, however, we have agreed to reduce his bill by a third.' Mr Picot maintains that he should not have to pay the bill and plans to refer the matter to the telecoms ombudsman.

e.cook@dailymail.co.uk