My local council are a bunch of idiots.

wurlitzerwilly

taxcollector wrote: »

The council cannot issue you a summons unless it sent you a reminder notice. You should have queried why a reminder had been issued at the time. I don't think any Magistrate will be very sympathetic to your reasons and all you will do is ending up paying more due to court costs. The council will have the last laugh and you will be more out of pocket.

Your offer of £1 will be refused and if the Magistrate asks you your employment details the Council can arrange an attachment of earnings. Just pay up and stop bleating. Yes - I collect Council tax for a living and I have heard every excuse in the book. I have to pay my local council (who are not my employers) and and I check my bank statements to check direct debits have been paid.

I don't understand your first comment. As I've already said, I've received NO reminder notice (please bear in mind that I'm not trying to convince you as a tax collector but as a private member of a forum, so I have no need to make excuses). So how could I possibly query why a reminder had been sent at the time, if no reminder had been sent. The Council are in fact acting illegally and issuing threats which they are not entitled to do. I think that the Court Of Human Rights will definitely have something to say to them about that. No reminder - no summons - correct?

Attachment of earnings? Not a hope in hell's chance. I live on charitable donations (NOT benefits) which are quite legally non-taxable, so I have no tangible earnings.

I have received a notice and threat of a summons for advance payment in full, all due to a Council blunder. I do not pay anything up to a year in advance and I do not intend to start now.

With due respect as a forum member, you may feel that you're trying to help, but frankly I feel that you are trying to protect the apparent God-given right of the mighty machine to trample on anyone it feels is in its way and to make any mistake it pleases and not be accountable.

"Stop bleating". Lie down and submit. Not bloody likely. Like those in the last War "I'd rather die first"!

Regards,

Alan.

wurlitzerwilly

bella123 wrote: »

just send a cheque to the council,why waste your time and the councils time and tax payers money,---,you own them the money just pay it.

Bella,

I owe them a few months which I have money set aside for as they did not take it by Direct Debit, that is not in dispute. What is in dispute is their trying to penalise me by making me pay a year (less what's owing) in advance for what amounts to a massive blunder and a failure of the Council to fulfil its duty to collect my Council Tax. Sheer incompetence which they will now attempt to cover up by issuing a summons, which of course I will answer.

Regards,

Alan.

mike_the_bike_2

You are forgetting councils are run for the benefit of councils and not you..They are not in the slightest bit interested either in what you think.

Suggest you just pay it.

CIS

I don't understand your first comment. As I've already said, I've received NO reminder notice (please bear in mind that I'm not trying to convince you as a tax collector but as a private member of a forum, so I have no need to make excuses). So how could I possibly query why a reminder had been sent at the time, if no reminder had been sent.

Your on to a loser straight away - proof of postage of the reminder is legaly proof of receipt.

smcaul

Crack on WurlitzerWilly, until people make councils pay for their mistakes then they will continue to make them and think nothing of the inconvenience it causes others - the two posters who are tax collectors seem prime examples of this - If they had to operate in the real world where mistakes made in industry cost money and have to be paid for then maybe they would understand. But being cocooned in the council they have no idea about the real cost to people from these types of mistakes. Oh and they are not really mistakes, they are incompetence!!!

CIS

If they had to operate in the real world where mistakes made in industry cost money and have to be paid for then maybe they would understand. But being cocooned in the council they have no idea about the real cost to people from these types of mistakes

So you think someone like British Gas or BT wouldn't take action if you hadn't paid ?, even if there was an error with the direct debit. They would have refered to a debt collector well before a large debt built up - compare that to the fact that the council has to have sent at least one reminder and then be authorised by a court to recover debt.

bluejake

smcaul wrote: »

Crack on WurlitzerWilly, until people make councils pay for their mistakes then they will continue to make them and think nothing of the inconvenience it causes others - the two posters who are tax collectors seem prime examples of this - If they had to operate in the real world where mistakes made in industry cost money and have to be paid for then maybe they would understand. But being cocooned in the council they have no idea about the real cost to people from these types of mistakes. Oh and they are not really mistakes, they are incompetence!!!

Cracking on will only cost him time and money. Just pay is good advice or he will be paying what he owes plus court costs. I do not work in Council Tax Collection but I do know that people can really convince themselves that they have been wronged when it is fact their own errors which have landed them in a mess.
Like the earlier poster said they have an amazing ability not to have received reminders and correspondence which is inconvenient to their 'it is all the Council's fault' stance. Unfortunately, the Council will have proof of postage of reminders and a record of all correspondence and the court will take it that you received them. That great injustice in your head will evaporate in a court that has heard every excuse under the sun a thousand times.

wurlitzerwilly

Al_Mac wrote: »

Just pay the bill and stop being stupid. They will have followed procedures. You'll end up in trouble and 2 minutes of fame in the local paper.

Pay the entire bill with what? I don't have money in advance for them, so I presume you and they would have me go into debt, just so they can slap me for their incompetence. Now THAT's stupid.

Regards,

Alan.

wurlitzerwilly

bluejake wrote: »

.................Like the earlier poster said they have an amazing ability not to have received reminders and correspondence which is inconvenient to their 'it is all the Council's fault' stance. Unfortunately, the Council will have proof of postage of reminders and a record of all correspondence and the court will take it that you received them. That great injustice in your head will evaporate in a court that has heard every excuse under the sun a thousand times.

I do rather take exception to be called a liar! Like I said, this is not a court, I do not have to make excuses, THERE WAS NO REMINDER unless lost in the Post (amazing how that one often gets used). If "evidence" to the contrary is produced, it will have been fabricated, just like the so-called lack of evidence when doctors' records "went missing" some years ago, which would have proved doctors incompetence causing the early demise of my first wife. Action was taken then, highly illegal, and personal damage was suffered. I had better than 2 minutes of fame in the papers, I had a great deal of personal satisfaction at bringing part of the Establishment to its knees.

Regards,

Alan.

wurlitzerwilly

CIS wrote: »

So you think someone like British Gas or BT wouldn't take action if you hadn't paid ...................

EXACTLY my point. Of course they would, but they would have ensured that a reminder did indeed reach me well before it reached advanced stages of debt AND they would not have issued the threat of a summons and tried to make me pay an advance sum, just to make me look like a naughty boy. They are businesses attempting to make a profit, not burocratic nightmares who actually exist to provide services, but often do not.

I'm more than happy to pay British Gas et al for what I've received from them. I am not happy to pay in advance for something I may well not receive, which if a business acted that way would be illegal and could lead at the very least to a visit by Trading Standards.

Regards,

Alan.