My TV ran up Sky high phone bill

A family has been landed with a £400 phone bill ... because their TV keeps calling to check the time. According to their BT bill, the Khan family has dialled the speaking clock 4,308 times during the past three months.

They phone every nine minutes and, every time, are connected for exactly 34 seconds. But Shabhaz and Gill Khan, from Sale, Manchester, are not obsessed with the time - BT says their TV equipment is making the calls.

It claims their Sky system calls 12345 every nine minutes to check the phone line is working - but gets stuck after the first three digits and connects to the speaking clock.

Now, Mrs Khan, 34, says the family is caught in a row between BT and Sky, as neither will accept blame. 'We're not so obsessed with the time to call the speaking clock more than 4,000 times,' she added.