A COUPLE from North Tawton were left shocked, amused and then angry when they received their council tax bill . . .

Geoff and Margaret Paddon received the bill from West Devon Borough Council after they had underpaid their council tax — by 1p.

Mrs Paddon said: 'My husband wrote out the cheque, but it was a penny short.

'I didn't realise until I got to the post office to pay the bill and to be honest, for the sake of a penny, I didn't think much about it.

'Then we had a bill from West Devon Borough Council saying we owed one penny and they had even tippexed out the bit about contacting the council if there was difficultly paying the amount.'

Mrs Paddon said they initially found the bill amusing: 'At first we both thought it was really funny, but then when I gave it some more thought, I wasn't happy.

'When you work out the cost of the printing for the letters, the cost of the post office fees, the tippex, etc. it all adds up to more than one penny!

'Why could not the council if they were so concerned about this underpayment taken it into the next year or have written it off?

'The one thing that made us really mad was that we pay six months up front and so they are actually getting the interest.

'I don't want to speak to West Devon Borough Council, but what I would like to let them know is that I have paid the penny, because I don't want them wasting any more money sending me a reminder.'

A statement issued by West Devon Borough Council said: 'We are extremely sorry that this has happened — it was a genuine mistake.

'The letter was for Mrs Paddon's information only and it should have stated that fact.

'Unfortunately, in this case, it didn't and we will be sending Mrs Paddon a letter of apology.

'As we had to make an adjustment on Mrs Paddon's account, the most cost-effective way of informing her was to send her a bill notice by post.'