A plumber who went viral after generously refusing to charge an elderly disabled woman to fix her boiler has received £80,000 in donations in less than a week – as he plans to extend his services across the country.
James Anderson, 52, from Burnley, risked bankruptcy after closing down his business to relaunch it as a not-for-profit company.
Now he is extending his philanthropy across the UK with the help of Depher, a crowdfunding site.
Over the last week, a bill for £0 that he sent to a 91-year-old woman with a terminal illness was posted online and went viral. At the time of writing, the plumber had received £79,767 in donations as well as offers of holidays.
Mr Anderson said: “People are talking about doing it in America, France and Australia, and they’re all going to contact me to get advice and guidance as to how to do it in their countries.
“Hopefully… we can bring all communities together for one common cause across the planet, so everybody who’s elderly and disabled, not just in the UK, can benefit from something like this in society.”
