A pensioner who was told he was dead has been issued an apology by his local council, who sent the gentleman a letter explaining he had passed away.
Not only that, but they also told him how, bizarrely, he could get a tax exemption now that he was six feet under. And all of this a month after his wife of 54 years, Ann, had died, reports the Mirror.
South Norfolk Council were forced to send Stuart Dobson, 77, a grovelling letter of apology, admitting that it was “human error”. This after Mr Dobson had responded to their communication, telling them he was very much alive, but now very “distressed”.
The widower told Local Democracy Reporting Service: “I have been up there to give them a letter. I’ve hand-delivered it to the council, telling them, ‘Do I look dead to you?’.
“It’s an utter shambles, they’re asking me to fill in forms when they think I’m dead, it doesn’t make sense. I don’t need this at all.”
In the letter sent to Mr Dobson, the council wrote: “I am sorry to hear that the above person has passed away. I have applied a class F Council Tax exemption.
“This is based on the assumption that the deceased was the sole owner or tenant of the above property. Please find the guidance notes for this exemption.
“If the deceased was not the sole owner or tenant of the property, the class F exemption will not be applicable. The current owner(s) will be responsible for any Council Tax that may become due.”
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In his response, Mr Dobson wrote: “I have today received an ill-informed letter from you telling me that I have passed away. It occurs to me that only the [council] would write to a deceased person and ask them to fill in a council tax form.
“One doubts their sanity and rational thinking when taking such an action.”
A council spokesman responded: “The council has apologised to Mr Dobson for the mistake made when updating our records following the death of Mrs Dobson, and we regret that our mistake has caused Mr Dobson upset at this difficult time.
“We have reviewed what happened and unfortunately this was a case of human error for which we are deeply sorry.”
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