Councils send out more than 2,500 court summonses in error

Harborough District Council incorrectly sent out summonses warning residents they faced a court hearing

Three councils are investigating after more than 2,500 households were wrongly sent court summonses over council tax.

Earlier this week it emerged 700 residents in Harborough District Council's area were wrongly sent letters before being given reminders.

Letters were also sent to 1,000 houses in North West Leicestershire District Council and more than 900 by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.

The councils are part of Leicestershire Revenues and Benefits Partnership.

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Bev Smith, chief executive of North West Leicestershire District Council, said the "incorrect" summonses were sent from the partnership, which then affected residents under all three councils.

"Before a summons is sent, a formal reminder notice should always be issued but on this occasion it was missed due to human error," he said.

"The summonses were issued with no deliberate intention and all those who received one have been contacted to confirm that it has been cancelled.

"We understand that residents who received a summons will have found this distressing and we apologise to those that were impacted."

A spokesman for Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council said the authority had "reviewed our procedures to ensure this will not happen again".

"We immediately withdrew the summons and wrote to the affected customers to explain our error and to apologise," they said.