Thousands fail to pay council tax

Thousands of people are failing to pay their council tax in Leicestershire, new figures suggest.

Between 2005 and 2008, Leicester City Council sent out more than 78,000 court summons to recover unpaid bills.

For the same period, Charnwood Borough Council called in bailiffs on 6,445 occasions, officials said.

But both authorities said it was important to note one person could receive several recovery notices so the numbers could be halved.

Payment plan

Alan Lemmon, acting head of revenues and benefits for Leicester City Council, said: "There are 120,000 properties in the city and we have a very fluid population.

"Recovery action could be taken at one address and then against the same person but at another address.

"So last year's figure of 23,000 courts summons, in reality is half that number of people, simply because they move around the city."

In Market Harborough, there have been more than 4,000 court appearances over a three-year-period for non-payment of council tax.

Mr Lemmon added it was important for anyone having trouble paying their council tax bills to contact their local authority as soon as possible.

More than 5,700 court summons were sent out by Blaby District Council, almost 7,000 in North West Leicestershire and 3,980 in Oadby and Wigston.

Figures for Melton and Hinckley and Bosworth were not available.