Council threatens woman over tax

A Nottinghamshire woman was threatened with court action after she paid her council tax into the wrong account.

Alicia Macia, from Granby, owed Rushcliffe Borough Council £151.83 for June, but had paid £149.79 (£2.04 less) and quoted the wrong reference number.

She was issued with a court summons for £1,053.87 by Rushcliffe Borough Council and told to pay £50 court costs.

But the council dropped the summons after it realised that she had made the payment.

Steve Goodrich, head of revenues at the council, told the Press Association: "Ms Macia contacted us because she had received a summons for her council tax.

"Ms Macia believed that she had made all of the payments that were due, but unfortunately had quoted the wrong reference number when she paid June's instalment.

"Because of this, we were unable to identify the account to which the payment belonged."

He said a reminder for £151.83 had been sent in June, then a summons for £1,053.87 plus court costs had been issued on 15 July.

"A payment of £149.79 was received on 11 June, but because Ms Macia had quoted a walksort reference rather than her billing reference, the payment was allocated to the council's suspense account," Mr Goodrich added.