Leominster trader Doug Dukes “smelt a rat” when he was threatened with a visit from the bailiffs after payment of his business rates was less than a week overdue.
A former magistrate, 64-year-old Mr Dukes, who runs a car and bike spare parts’ shop in West Street, was shocked to receive a letter from Herefordshire Council with details of a liability order issued by the magistrates’ court just three days after the due date for payment of his £364 business rates.
The retired British Rail manager was severely taken aback as he has a policy of paying his house and business rates together on a monthly basis.
“The business rates are due on the first of the month and the house is due on the 14th so I usually pay both on about the eighth of the month,” he said.
“I smelt a rat seeing that the letter and court order arrived on July 7 which must have been sent out on about July 4, three days’ after the rates were due to be paid.”
Having served on the Herefordshire Bench for 22 years, Mr Dukes realised that the council could not have secured a court order in time to include in the letter.
He has since received an apology from the council’s recovery office, and was told that the authority had not in fact secured a liability order.
“What authority did they have to use the threat of a magistrate’s warrant?” said Mr Dukes.
“To send this out saying there’s a court order is taking the magistrates’ court’s name in vain.”
He continued: “I’ve been in Leominster all my life and have paid all bills promptly. There are a lot of people in Leominster who work hard to keep businesses going, so this was an insult.”
Though he has received an admission that no liability order had been issued against his name, Mr Dukes remains concerned.
“My business could have been badly hit if a court order had been acquired,” he said.
“My credit rating would have been zero if they had got a liability order, so as someone with a business it’s very worrying.
“It would be a hell of a job to get that cleared from your name if you have an order issued against you.”
His experiences have also caused him to worry about others who might receive a similarly unwarranted letter and court order.
“It makes you wonder how many other people have been treated in the same way,” said Mr Dukes.
“I’m afraid I did blow when I saw that a court order had been issued and that the baliffs would be coming round, but for some people this could be devastating.”
A council spokesperson said business rate recovery is run by an automated system and in this particular case a clerical error was made, resulting in a recovery letter being issued inappropriately.
“Had the recipient not drawn this to the council’s attention, the system would have identified the error and the issue would have been addressed,” said the spokesperson.
“The council has apologised to the recipient and would assure business rate payers that such a situation is most unlikely to occur again,”he added.
