Council tax passed to Newlyn and they refuse to take the account back, can anything be done?

tnel15

I posted the other day regarding an annoying issue I'm facing re council tax and Newlyn.

I had around £600 owed to the council from an old property. The account went to court without me realising and I then agreed to pay £50 per month to clear the balance. 

I made these payments via direct debit from May until September. In September, the direct debit failed as I had not been paid yet, but I made the payment for the £50 agreement, plus my normal payment for current property manually via my online account. 
In October, the £50 payment never went out, whereas my standard council tax payment did. All I (wrongly) assumed at the time was that the balance had been written off or something as I had no correspondence from the council. 

I received letters from Newlyn (discovered this only a few days ago) demanding now £655... the remaining balance on my council account was £315...so over £300 in Newlyn charges!

I managed to get Newlyn to lay off me and let me pay the balance over 3 months starting this Friday. 

Called the council and, in a nutshell, they said I should've read the terms of the agreement and because I didn't call to query the direct debit not going out in October, they automatically passed the account to Newlyn.

Legally, is there any way I can avoid paying the fees to Newlyn? Could I make a payment direct to council tax for the remaining balance? 

penners324

Carry on paying the council direct.

That Newlyn charge is extortionate.