AN 84-year-old pensioner couldn’t believe her eyes when she received a summons to appear before Redditch Magistrates Court on May 31 for non-payment of council tax.
Not only that but the letter, from the Redditch Borough Council, said she would also have to pay a £50 surcharge for the summons itself.
“My elderly mother was utterly beside herself, the letter said she was in arrears and gave a time and date to appear in court,” said the woman’s daughter, who asked not be named.
“She was in a total panic, especially as she pays her council tax by direct debit.”
Now the Borough Council is to write to all those affected, after initially refusing to do so.
Amanda Singleton, head of customer access and financial support said: “Unfortunately a small number of people have received letters for non-payment of council tax when they shouldn’t have.
“We’re now writing back to those people to rectify that mistake. I appreciate this may have caused some alarm and I’m sorry for the trouble.
“It was due to some money showing up as ‘unpaid’ for that year, when it had in fact been carried over from the previous year as credits and so didn’t need paying.”
