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British Gas has found itself in hot water for describing its boiler repair service as "free" in an advert.

A TV ad for British Gas HomeCare boiler repairs, which showed a man sharing his house with Inuits until a British Gas engineer fixes the broken boiler, was misleading according to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA).

A voiceover told viewers they could "Choose between a fixed fee of £50 per repair, or pay a little more each month and get all repairs completely free ..." but two viewers thought this was misleading as customers had to pay more each month to avoid a fixed fee of £50 per repair.

Clearcast, the company responsible for the pre-transmission examination and clearance of television advertisements, said the word "free" was used in a conversational way in the ad.

Although conceding the repairs were not technically free, the ad was drawing a distinction between paying a small monthly fee plus an extra £50 per repair and paying a bit more monthly but not having to pay any extra for repairs.

The company argued viewers were left in no doubt as to what they would get for their money and could not be said to be misled.

The ASA disagreed with both British Gas and Clearcast, however. "Because the repairs under HomeCare were part of a package which customers were paying for, we considered they could be described as inclusive, or as being at no extra cost, but to describe them as free was misleading," the agency said.

British Gas has been told not to describe the repairs under HomeCare as "free".