A Scots pensioner feared enforcement officers were going to turn up at his home after a receiving a text from the council saying he hadn't paid his tax bill.
Bob Bell, from Edinburgh, started panicking after the 'phantom bill' came through on April 14 for his quarterly council tax bill - which he had already paid more than two weeks before. The text stated that he owed £78, with the 73-year-old immediately calling Edinburgh city council to query the bill, but was unable to get through.
Instead, Bob sent an email to the local authority but was told that he could face a 30 day wait for a response, by which point he was likely to have sheriff officers knocking on his door. After Edinburgh Live contacted the council on Mr Bell's behalf, it was found that he had been using their freephone service to pay his bills.
The service requires an 11-digit account number to make a payment - but Bob's letter from the council only had an eight-digit number. According to the council's instructions on how to pay your tax via phone, the number nine must be dialled before entering the eight digit account number, followed by the last two numbers of the year - in Bob's case, 23 for the year 2023.
As the information on how to do this is only available online and not on the bill itself, Bill was unaware that his payments were going through. A spokesperson for the council has since stated that the way the account number is displayed on council bill letters cannot be changed, however they have addressed the on their website.
They also confirmed that the £78.93 which was accidentally paid towards the financial year of 2020/21, but will transferred to the current financial year. Speaking of his confusion over the issue, Bob said: "I just phone up and pay my bill every couple of months or so. I paid £78 on March 30 as it's easier for me. I had a problem with the same thing around two years ago.
"This time, though, I got a random text in the afternoon saying my bill has not been paid and if I did not pay, they would take necessary steps to retrieve the money. I went back in and looked at my bank statement which proved that I paid it last month. I filled in a complaint form after the council said they had sent my enquiry off to the relevant department."
When the phone would not accept Bob's number on the letter, he tried to enter one from a previous letter instead, leading to the money going into the wrong financial year's account.
Bob continued: "I got last year's number which I put in and it accepted it. It gave me the reference number and confirmed I had paid it at the end of the month. Now, they're saying it'll take three weeks by which point the sheriff officers will be down here.
"I don't know how many people are involved in this and struggling to understand it but it's frustrating not being able to get through on the phone. I thought it would be useful knowing how many other people are involved in this as I doubt I'm the only one.
"Being a resident who has always paid the council tax up front and on time, that's what annoyed me the most. They've had ages to decide what the tax rates were going to be and they have sent out letters which don't contain the right account number with not enough digits."
Bob's quarterly bill has now been transferred to the current financial year and a member of staff from the relevant department has been in touch with him to explain the situation.
For anyone else struggling with a similar issue, advice on how to pay your council tax via the freephone service is available here.
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