another pensioner jailed!

[scruffscat]

I would like to know peoples reaction to the jailing today of another pensioner regarding her non payment of council tax .personally i find it outrageous.

[anotheoldgit]

The fact being that this old lady is Irish, perhaps she should have played the "Race Card" it seems it works very well with other non indiginous groups, who also have the support of various Community Leaders, and the best of Legal support..

[Supernick]

Callithrix - I can assure you that my local council (Dacorum Borough Council - name and shame the morons) is thoroughly inept at taking the council tax from me and my flatmate. Wrong amounts, letters demanding payment when we'd paid etc. The best one ever though was a message left on their answer phones a year or two back.

"Due to a 6 month backlog we are unable to answer and council tax queries before 2 o'clock". Indefinitely.

[Supernick]

And going off point - British gas are worse.
2 bills on the same day, 1 saying "You owe us �200", and the second saying "We owe you �20". I phone them up, and the bloke says
"I don't really know what's happened here mate. Shall we just call it quits?"
Whatever.

[beejaybee]

There was a discussion on The Wright Stuff this morning about her. A neighbour of hers rang in & apparantly " all is not as it seems" regarding her. The press are not always accurate in their reports as we all know. I will only believe the date in any newspaper, unless I have knowledge of the facts regarding any story.

[sandbach99]

At present their is no-one other than the ombusman that you can complain to about the councils failings, I'm not sure if this type of complaint would be considered.
Maybe a better option would be to set up an independent agency, where anyone who believed they had not received value, or what they had paid for from any of the sectors that the council tax payment covers could complain to. After all the council tax covers County and Local councils services and the police.
If the agency believed the complaint should go to the ombusman it could be referred, if it was more minor ie messing up bills, failing to clean up known blackspots etc the agency should be able to give a refund. After all you are paying for a service so there should be an easy way to complain.

[Callithrix]

It's just been reported that her debt was paid by an anonymous benefactor. Fantastic.

[jedda]

If we all broke the law over something we disliked what we we have, chaos, I say. The ballot box is the civilised and democratic way.

[Rock'n'Roll]

Like most of you,the only "facts" i'm aware of sre those the papers choose to publish. The galling point as far as i'm concerned,is that, if the street is as bad as she suggests,why haven't the rest of the neighbours backed her with a similar protest,therebye adding strength to her argument,or are they the ones responsible for the state of the place

[kipchik]

she gets jailed for 3 months,someone who commits worse gets a slap on the wrist,personally the council should take their 'council tax' and stick it up their ar$es,,

[littleoldme]

I sympathise with her that her neighbourhood is a dump. I don't sympathise with her for being jailed for non-payment of council tax. Where would we be if we could all pick and choose which laws to obey and which to flout as it suited us? Utter anarchy, that's where. I won't shed any tears for her - she's gone to jail through her own choice. It's not as if she couldn't pay - she simply refused and knew what the consequences would be.

[joko]

This response is PURELY regarding the assumption that because somone is old means they don't have to follow the same laws as everyone else.

why, because someone is old, should we think they are lovely old biddies that wouldn't dream of doing anything untoward?

are we really that daft and naive?

i cannot wait until i am old - i can get away with murder! Literally?

[libertie]

I might have had a little more sympathy for her, had I not seen her being interviewed on GMTV a few weeks ago! They highlighted her story, then spoke to a lady from Liverpool (I think) who had previously had the same issues with her neighbourhood and managed to resolve them with the help of the local community and the local police! She advised the lady in question NOT to stop paying her council tax and that she would be more than happy to help her to get some help! Have to say though that the old lady was not really up for it...looked a bit like she had made up her mind about things and was not going to be swayed!! Saw her on the news this morning and she was totally hacked off that some...council sympathiser...had paid her bill!

[chazza]

Apparently she is out now after 24 hours.

A "donor" paid her tax for her. Maybe we should all try it

[WaldoMcFroog]

Not only is she out, she's actually furious with the benefactor for paying it, saying it has wrecked her protest and that she could have paid the bill if she wanted.

[jno]

seems a major contributor to Derby urban blight was... the woman herself, who owned several properties and didn't keep them up:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1 810399,00.html

Just fancy that!