paying for a council tax court summons

[k8bailey]

My partner and I pay our council tax monthly at the post office, the last payment of the 2006/2007 bill was due on 01.03.07 i paid it a month late on 02.04.07 on 03.04.07 a court summons was issued because of non payment, when i spoke to the council they told me that it took 10 days for money to clear from the post office but after that the summons woud be revoked and i would not be charged for it as i paid the bill before it was issued, today i recieved a letter saying that they had recieved the payment for the bill but demanded the costs incurred by issuing the summons (�31.30)

what can i do they're taking us to court on 23.04.07 for a bill i've paid! I think its totally unfair to make us pay for a summons issued over a bill which had been paid, i know it was wrong of me to pay it so late but i didn't recieve any of the reminders which they said they sent, i also decided to put in a complaint about the "missing" reminders and the complaint form never arrived either!!

what is my legel position on paying for this summons?
Thanks in advance

[NORMANTHEDOG]

you will have to pay it,its not the councils fault,you paid it a over a month late, if you contest it,it could well cost you more in fines and more charges to the council.

[k8bailey]

but i paid before it was issued

[NORMANTHEDOG]

does not matter,as the council said it was put in motion before,still its your problem,we can only advise,if you go to court you might be charged court costs of another �40/50

[CheekyChops]

yes definately pay it. I paid my last installment of �60 2 weeks late and a cople of days later, a dcourt summons arrived. I ignored it as I had already paid and in my absence they added another �60 of court costs on and sent it to a debt collection agency.

So now I've got to pay another �60!

[nicksmum]

I work in a magistrates court and see things like this all the time. I suggest you attend court on the day with all your paperwork. I dont know where you live or how your local council operates its council tax court but where I work the council tries to settle disputes before the cases go into court on the day,if this doesnt work then you would have to go into court and plead your case to the bench.
It does seem unfair when people owe an absolute fortune but the fact remains that you paid it a month late and the computer would have generated the summons because of this.Good luck!