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An elderly couple were sent letters threatening court action for non-payment of council tax – only to find the payment they had made had gone to the wrong bank account.
Ron and Jean Febrey, who live in Nailsea, had paid their £184 monthly instalment to North Somerset Council as normal in June at the town’s post office.
But the couple, who have lived in Nailsea for more than 20 years, were left horrified after receiving a letter from North Somerset Council saying it had not received the payment. The letter also told the couple that if the instalment wasn’t made within seven days, the outstanding balance of £1,472 would be due.
The letter also warned the couple that if payment wasn’t forthcoming, court action could follow. Ron, 87, said: “For the last 17 years we have paid the council tax on time every month.
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“My wife Jean goes to the post office and always pays within the first four days of the month. She went and paid on June 1 as normal and thought nothing of it.”
The couple then received a letter on June 14 from North Somerset Council saying the payment had not been received. “I rang the council to say we had paid,” said Ron, “but the person on the phone said the amount was still outstanding.
“We had a receipt proving the amount had been paid, but they didn’t want to know.” The couple then went to Nailsea Post Office to investigate further.
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“The Post Office staff couldn’t understand what had happened,” said Ron, “as the same card was used and all the numbers and payment details were correct.”
On checking receipts and bank balances, Ron and his wife discovered that the payment made had infact gone to the Hague Housing Trust – based in Surrey.
“When we told the Post Office they said it was a council issue. When we spoke to the council, they told us it was a Post Office issue.
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“All the time we were stuck in the middle. North Somerset Council were completely unaware of this until I told them,” said Ron.
Not wanting to get behind with payments, Ron and Jean paid the June instalment for the second time.
“We will not be making any further council tax payments until we can be sure the issue is sorted,” said Ron. “We understand that we are not the only ones affected.
“There are others, possibly elderly people too, that use the Post Office to pay their bills. We have managed to get to the bottom of this, but others might have not.”
North Somerset Council said the issue regarding the payments lay with the Post Office which had suffered a glitch with its payment system. A North Somerset Council spokesman said: “North Somerset Council is aware of a national issue with some council tax payments whereby residents paid their council tax at a post office, which has not shown on our records.
“This is a national Post Office issue following an update to their payment system, and they are carrying out a full investigation into what has happened. Before the issue was identified, North Somerset Council sent reminders to five households as we believed we had not received payments.
“As soon as we were made aware of the national Post Office issue, we took instant action. We have now made changes to our system and no further reminders will be sent to affected households. We expect the Post Office investigation to be concluded shortly.”
A Post Office spokesperson said: “We are aware of an issue and investigating as a matter of urgency. “
