Dear Editor,
I am writing to you reguarding letters sent out from THURROCK COUNCIL re missing council tax payments.
I paid our council tax on 28-3-13 at my bank in Grays by cheque which cleared off our account on the
03-04-13.
This was well before the due date 10-4-13 for £122.48
I got a nasty letter from the councils debt manager dated 15-4-13 where in the letter I quote: “Your council tax is showing to be in arrears.
“To correct this and avoid further recovery action we must recieve £122.48 by close of business 21-4-13. If we do not receive this amount, that is inclusive of any additional instalments that may fail to be paid by the 21-4-13 , recovery action will proceed and you will be required to pay all the council tax as a lump sum”
Now if I had been elderly what would this have done to me? It’s written in such a threatening way.
I went to the council with proof of payment dated 28-3-13 with a copy of the cheque and told them the bank has put a trace on the payment.
Well today the bank called and said the cheque was processed but not the credit as it got separated in the
course of clearing and the funds will be the council by Friday.
The whole situation of debt collecting within the council is disgusting.
Whilst I was at the offices on Friday at least five other people were talking about this. T
here is obviously a problem with the council tax payment this year, when I spoke to their officers on the
desk they simply say a generic letter is automated after non payment.
Well maybe they should investigate non payments first before sending threatening letters.
I wonder how many other people have had the same bad experience? Is this something worth investigating?
Name and address withheld.
