We're guessing Paul from British Gas is suffering from serious social media regret this afternoon after a tweet he posted was met with considerable criticism from members of the public earlier today.

Using the company's Twitter page, Paul decided to pay tribute to David Bowie on his one-year anniversary, before swiftly moving on to the service provided by British Gas.

"Morning all," he began in the ill-conceived post. "A year today we lost a pop icon David Bowie, time flys don't it? We're here till 10pm if you need anything. Thanks, Paul." (sic)

Unsurprisingly, people wasted no time lashing out at the typo-laden post, with one person writing: "'time flys don't it" That's really bad taste. I'm shocked a business account has written that."

"Time does fly. It's now been a month since a complaint was raised. You could be heroes, just for today and resolve it," quipped another disgruntled Twitter user.

As more and more scathing responses flooded in, poor ol' Paul realised it might be time to acknowledge the widespread irritation.

Taking to the site again, he wrote: "Hey, David Bowie meant so much to me. I didn't mean to offend anyone and I only wanted to pay tribute to a master songwriter and true icon."

Thankfully, the public were willing to let him off this time, with one replying: "Personal twitter accounts are good for that! I know you meant no harm but coming from businesses it smells of PR."

"Paul is great. More Paul, please. And give him a pay rise, ey?" added someone else.

Might be time to task someone else with the Twitter shift…