Phone hotline tops £1m mark

A telephone hotline set up to help people in Stafford pay household bills has had more than a £1m of payments made through it in its first year.

Thousands of people have called up to pay things like council tax, business rates and parking fines.

Callers speak to an operator, using credit or debit cards to pay whatever they owe.

The scheme was launched by Stafford Borough Council just over a year ago to save people having to go to the council offices in person.

It receives about 600 calls each month and had about 500 callers in its first fortnight alone.

Operators say that the service could now be extended to allow people to pay bills using their home computers.