Thread: BCW / Glasgow City Council / Council Tax Arrears

I have something similar. This is my first comment here - and why I joined.

I received a letter from a company who I think are sheriffs officers claiming my father owed council tax.

My father died last century, although the council had made errors in his tax that appeared about 2000. These were resolved in about 2001, its a long time ago and I cannot remember the dates.

In about summer 2003 a man came to the door looking for my father. I explained he had passed away some years previously, then the man explained he had visited as there were outstanding council tax bills.

At this time I had all my dads paperwork in a bundle - and I showed him the death certificate, and the letters from the council from about 2000/2001 that cleared up their error. He accepted this and apologised saying that the councils records were lousy and he had to deal with this type of thing daily.

Last week the letter arrived from the people I think are sheriffs officers claiming my dad owes thousands of pounds.

About two or three years ago I threw out anything of my dads that was not of sentimental value.

I feel great annoyance over this matter, as my dad never owed anyone a penny in his life, and its worsened by having the matter resolved twice already, and by the council appointed sheriffs officer admitting himself that the council were clueless.

What should I do?

I doubt I could submit a Data Protection request for someone else, and I appreciate they cannot pursue him, but the entire affair sickens me, and I feel its like they are trying to tarnish the memory, through incompetence, of someone who paid them religiously his entire life.

I thought I should post here to tell what has happened, as it would appear the problem has gone away on its own.

At the time of receiving the letter, I had mentioned it to a friend whose son is a law student and works in the CAB. It turned out the CAB had been inundated with people appearing with these debts from the last century, but he had also said to ignore it, as the consensus was they were unable to chase them all - and were just hoping for payment on the strength of one letter. He went on to say a lower offer would then arrive, and after than nothing. He advised NOT to contact them, as given the time that had passed, and the number of people they had seen, the letters were just being sent out without checking if the person lived there or even was alive.

True enough - another bill arrived, but for a third the amount of the first. It also listed the dates for outstanding council tax to be 0/0/2000 to 0/0/2000, (2000 was considerably after my father's death. I was also moved into his house prior to that, and had paid all the council tax for the years 1999/2000 and 2000/01 - although would be hard pushed to produce the paperwork so long after).

Again I ignored it, although the temptation was to scream at them down the phone, or visit the office 50 miles away.

However, ten months on - nothing. They were just chancers trying to make a man would be in the latter half of his nineties, pay money he never owed.

Its terrible that, this was sheriff's officers who you would think would be responsible people having the authority of a court who did this rather than the debt collectors whose dubious antics appear to prevail in here.