A YEAR ago he was complaining to British Gas about his broken boiler.

Now James Walker tells British Gas when to respond to customer complaints - as well as nearly 50,000 other companies all across the UK.

So incensed was the Winchester man he started his own app to help others with their issues, tackling phone companies and utility companies, in a bid to resolve their issues more efficiently, using pre-written emails and scheduled reminders.

Thus Resolver was born.

Spin on 12 months and it's grown nearly five times in size.

Now energy companies make up just 3.5 per cent of his database of companies, which will be near the 50,000 mark - over 30 times the amount when he first started - come the end of August; the company's birthday.

When Mr Walker started out it was just him and his ideas. Now he employs eight people and is in regular conversations with Ofgem, Ofcom and even the Financial Ombudsmen, having been declared a reputable firm.

The firm is now valued at £12.5 million.

“For me it's really odd. I don't sit here and go 'this is amazin'. I think 'oh god, why haven't I done that'. I sit down and solve all the problems. I've had people coming to me and telling me thanks for helping them. It's those sort of bits that make me think that's really nice. It's about helping consumers and we set out to make things better - it's cheesy I know - but we think it works.”