A council has taken payments from 30,000 people's bank accounts nearly a fortnight before they were due because of a computer error.

An average of £130 per person was debited early from the accounts to meet council tax payments after a mistake by Aberdeen City Council.

A spokesman says the council wrongly collected nearly £4 million because of a processing error and a change to a new council tax collection method.

The money was not due to be paid until January 5.

The spokesman says an investigation has been launched to establish what went wrong, and the accounts of all the people affected will be re-credited with the full amount on Thursday.

"The council apologises for the error and has taken immediate action to ensure the reverse payments are made as quickly as possible," he says.

"The city council will make arrangements to meet the cost of any bank charges that may have been incurred because of the computer error."

Ananova

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2002

Answers

30,000 hit as council grabs tax two weeks too soon

A local authority took payments from 30,000 people’s bank accounts nearly two weeks before they were due because of a computer error.

The money, an average of £130 per person, was debited early from the accounts by Aberdeen City Council.

The council wrongly collected nearly £4 million in council tax payments which were not due to be paid until 5 January because of a processing error and a change to a new collection method, said a council spokesman.

An investigation had been launched to establish what went wrong, and the accounts of all the people affected would be re-credited with the full amount on Thursday.

"The council apologises for the error and has taken immediate action to ensure the reverse payments are made as quickly as possible," the spokesman said.

"The city council will make arrangements to meet the cost of any bank charges that may have been incurred because of the computer error."

Nancy Cochrane, 48, was one of the thousands of residents left out of pocket by the glitch.

She said: "It could really have been a disaster. I had over £100 taken out of my account which I wasn’t prepared for and couldn’t afford.

"That money was for some essential things for Christmas day and some late presents. "

The Scotsman

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2002