My dad, Redditch council and late council tax payments!
Discussion
My dad just told me that he has to go to court, due to paying his Council tax on the wrong date!
He told me that the first he knew about this was a court summons, explaining that he always paid the monthly bill late – but he always paid it on the 15th for as long as he can remember!
He went to see some official at the Town Hall and tried to explain the situation (he pays it in the Post Office every month, he has no arrears!), but to no avail – he was told sternly that Redditch Council (Jacqui Smith’s haunt!) do not take late payments lightly, and it must proceed to court, where he will have to pay a £70 fine plus court costs! There was zero flexibility, despite not being in arrears – to them, it should have been paid on the 2nd of each month or you get hauled up to face the consequences!
I asked him why he didn’t pay via DD, and he said they have religiously gone into town every month to pay it – he insists he has had no warning letters prior to this (I did push him on this) – the only change being that the council has merged with Bromsgrove.
So, he got the letter, went to try and sort it immediately, and told them he would pay on the 2nd of the month from hereon in, but no! He MUST go to court!
What the hell is wrong with this council? (My dad’s a 68 year old pensioner – not that it makes much difference..) I feel a little enraged and completely helpless to intervene on his behalf!
He told me that the first he knew about this was a court summons, explaining that he always paid the monthly bill late – but he always paid it on the 15th for as long as he can remember!
He went to see some official at the Town Hall and tried to explain the situation (he pays it in the Post Office every month, he has no arrears!), but to no avail – he was told sternly that Redditch Council (Jacqui Smith’s haunt!) do not take late payments lightly, and it must proceed to court, where he will have to pay a £70 fine plus court costs! There was zero flexibility, despite not being in arrears – to them, it should have been paid on the 2nd of each month or you get hauled up to face the consequences!
I asked him why he didn’t pay via DD, and he said they have religiously gone into town every month to pay it – he insists he has had no warning letters prior to this (I did push him on this) – the only change being that the council has merged with Bromsgrove.
So, he got the letter, went to try and sort it immediately, and told them he would pay on the 2nd of the month from hereon in, but no! He MUST go to court!
What the hell is wrong with this council? (My dad’s a 68 year old pensioner – not that it makes much difference..) I feel a little enraged and completely helpless to intervene on his behalf!
cheers - didn't think of that (being in Italy right now) - I have told my wife, who is in the UK to go and see them tomorrow and find out more, and ring the local paper if what he told me were the full facts.
What peeves me is the fact they've always paid it, never been had any benefit, and they're not even in arrears (if you don't count 10 days!)
What peeves me is the fact they've always paid it, never been had any benefit, and they're not even in arrears (if you don't count 10 days!)
king place up council workers and all then burn the place down.... 
If it's any help, a friend of mine in Evesham lost his job and was late paying a couple a monthly council tax payments. He caught them up the same year and then received his next years bill saying he had to pay the whole lot up front as he was late with a couple of payments the year before.
He couldn't pay it up front so they refused his monthly payments and took him to court in July for a liability order. He explained the situation to the court and that he had tried to make a payment every month. The court threw the case out and spent ten minutes lecturing the council representative for wasting court time.
He couldn't pay it up front so they refused his monthly payments and took him to court in July for a liability order. He explained the situation to the court and that he had tried to make a payment every month. The court threw the case out and spent ten minutes lecturing the council representative for wasting court time.
If your Dad is not in arrears and is in fact paying each month then I would expect the council to be laughed out of court. I would definitely go to the local paper as suggested and whilst I agree that the local MP may be sledgehammer/nut on this occasion he should certainly take it up immediately with his local councillor.
Cheers, my wife is going to ring the local papers tomorrow (after confirming the facts), and I have sent an email asking for advice from the http://www.isitfair.co.uk/ website.
My dad seems to be quite ahppy to have his day in court, but it shouldn't have come to this (plus he's a bit of an 'Alf Garnett', and fear for what he'll say...)
My dad seems to be quite ahppy to have his day in court, but it shouldn't have come to this (plus he's a bit of an 'Alf Garnett', and fear for what he'll say...)
chris watton said:
Cheers, my wife is going to ring the local papers tomorrow (after confirming the facts), and I have sent an email asking for advice from the http://www.isitfair.co.uk/ website.
My dad seems to be quite ahppy to have his day in court, but it shouldn't have come to this (plus he's a bit of an 'Alf Garnett', and fear for what he'll say...)
Let's hope for his sake that judge isn't a 'darkie' then! My dad seems to be quite ahppy to have his day in court, but it shouldn't have come to this (plus he's a bit of an 'Alf Garnett', and fear for what he'll say...)
FarleyRusk said:
chris watton said:
Cheers, my wife is going to ring the local papers tomorrow (after confirming the facts), and I have sent an email asking for advice from the http://www.isitfair.co.uk/ website.
My dad seems to be quite ahppy to have his day in court, but it shouldn't have come to this (plus he's a bit of an 'Alf Garnett', and fear for what he'll say...)
Let's hope for his sake that judge isn't a 'darkie' then! My dad seems to be quite ahppy to have his day in court, but it shouldn't have come to this (plus he's a bit of an 'Alf Garnett', and fear for what he'll say...)
I had something similar to this just recently. My dad was dying and on the day I was going to see him I got a bill from my local council, printed on green paper, telling me how the council tax was broken down, (x% for Fire Service, x% for Police etc), and at the bottom was the total owed for the coming year.
I went to stay with my family and sadly my dad passed away 8 weeks later. On my return home I opened a letter that was from court-appointed bailiffs telling me that they would visit that very same week to remove goods from my house!
It turns out that my bank had ballsed up one months direct debit and not paid it, (the previous and following ones were paid ok), and the letter I had recieved from the council was telling me I had missed a payment - although nowhere on it does it say anything like that as it is exactly as described above. Even knowing what I do now I can't see that it is telling me I was in arrears.
So in the 8 weeks I was away they sent a letter on green paper (I would've expected red at least for a late payment?), took me to court, added the court costs to my arrears, and assigned bailiffs.
Uttlesford District Council - bunch of front bottoms!
I went to stay with my family and sadly my dad passed away 8 weeks later. On my return home I opened a letter that was from court-appointed bailiffs telling me that they would visit that very same week to remove goods from my house!
It turns out that my bank had ballsed up one months direct debit and not paid it, (the previous and following ones were paid ok), and the letter I had recieved from the council was telling me I had missed a payment - although nowhere on it does it say anything like that as it is exactly as described above. Even knowing what I do now I can't see that it is telling me I was in arrears.
So in the 8 weeks I was away they sent a letter on green paper (I would've expected red at least for a late payment?), took me to court, added the court costs to my arrears, and assigned bailiffs.
Uttlesford District Council - bunch of front bottoms!
Aside from the obvious disbelief.... here is a plan!
Write back to them (recorded obviously so has to be signed for etc) and ask for the full details of his case handler or equivalent.
Then ask who the senior case worker is that has made the decision to proceed with the case. Do not back down.
My guess is that some sort of manager or supervisor has to sign off the proceedings so ask for their details as well.
Then inform them that the first thing that you will be requestig is their (every one of them) presence in Court as you will be claiming all your costs against them and the council. Speak to the court and ask them the process to counter sue the LA for your costs in advance and throw that into a letter.
cc in your MP and the local rag and suggest that you are looking forward to your day in COurt. cc the CEO of the council in as well (recorded obviously) and wait for the ususal - "in these exceptional circumstances.... blah blah blah" letter.
I cant see this getting to court if you go ugly early with them?
Write back to them (recorded obviously so has to be signed for etc) and ask for the full details of his case handler or equivalent.
Then ask who the senior case worker is that has made the decision to proceed with the case. Do not back down.
My guess is that some sort of manager or supervisor has to sign off the proceedings so ask for their details as well.
Then inform them that the first thing that you will be requestig is their (every one of them) presence in Court as you will be claiming all your costs against them and the council. Speak to the court and ask them the process to counter sue the LA for your costs in advance and throw that into a letter.
cc in your MP and the local rag and suggest that you are looking forward to your day in COurt. cc the CEO of the council in as well (recorded obviously) and wait for the ususal - "in these exceptional circumstances.... blah blah blah" letter.
I cant see this getting to court if you go ugly early with them?
Edited by Slaav on Wednesday 2nd September 09:14
my mum has had a similar situation with letters / payment cock ups. She's an ex lawyer so just went to court and laughed at them. The council official shortly after resigned after the judge had a very stern word with him.
This is why we're getting into the situation, too many idiots in important places.
This is why we're getting into the situation, too many idiots in important places.
chris watton said:
cheers - didn't think of that (being in Italy right now) - I have told my wife, who is in the UK to go and see them tomorrow and find out more, and ring the local paper if what he told me were the full facts.
What peeves me is the fact they've always paid it, never been had any benefit, and they're not even in arrears (if you don't count 10 days!)
O/T, I see you're not a million miles from Varese, I'll keep an eye out for the TVR!What peeves me is the fact they've always paid it, never been had any benefit, and they're not even in arrears (if you don't count 10 days!)
He may not actually owe them any money, but if he's constantly paying 2 weeks late every month then the system will be showing that he's a persistant tax avoider. Seems harsh I know, but thats what will be recorded. Its not that he pays up, its that he constantly fails to pay on time. You could say that every month he tries to 'avoid taxation' by as much time as he thinks he can get away with it.
The government stamped down on this with people doing it with Car tax didnt they? Always paying up 2 weeks late but then in effect getting 13 months car tax for the price of 12. Cant do that any more.
If you were in rented accomodation and were due to pay at the end of the month, but every month were 2 weeks behind, woudlnt your lanlord get a bit peeved?
Completely unnessary and heavy handed approach from the council. they really are a bunch of usless jobsworths. Personally though, I'd just persuade him to pay it when due. Just about everyone else has to after all.
The government stamped down on this with people doing it with Car tax didnt they? Always paying up 2 weeks late but then in effect getting 13 months car tax for the price of 12. Cant do that any more.
If you were in rented accomodation and were due to pay at the end of the month, but every month were 2 weeks behind, woudlnt your lanlord get a bit peeved?
Completely unnessary and heavy handed approach from the council. they really are a bunch of usless jobsworths. Personally though, I'd just persuade him to pay it when due. Just about everyone else has to after all.
Tony*T3 said:
He may not actually owe them any money, but if he's constantly paying 2 weeks late every month then the system will be showing that he's a persistent tax avoider. Seems harsh I know, but that's what will be recorded. Its not that he pays up, its that he constantly fails to pay on time. You could say that every month he tries to 'avoid taxation' by as much time as he thinks he can get away with it.
The government stamped down on this with people doing it with Car tax didn't they? Always paying up 2 weeks late but then in effect getting 13 months car tax for the price of 12. Cant do that any more.
If you were in rented accommodation and were due to pay at the end of the month, but every month were 2 weeks behind, wouldn't your landlord get a bit peeved?
Completely unnecessary and heavy handed approach from the council. they really are a bunch of useless jobsworths. Personally though, I'd just persuade him to pay it when due. Just about everyone else has to after all.
Maybe but you WOULD expect them to have told you that they want paying on that date. As I read this the OP's father hasn't had any previous correspondence changing the due date.The government stamped down on this with people doing it with Car tax didn't they? Always paying up 2 weeks late but then in effect getting 13 months car tax for the price of 12. Cant do that any more.
If you were in rented accommodation and were due to pay at the end of the month, but every month were 2 weeks behind, wouldn't your landlord get a bit peeved?
Completely unnecessary and heavy handed approach from the council. they really are a bunch of useless jobsworths. Personally though, I'd just persuade him to pay it when due. Just about everyone else has to after all.
Not a massive distance away from your dad the bounders took the August payment to early.
http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/Displa...
Grovelly type letter duly received.
http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/Displa...
Grovelly type letter duly received.
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