Norfolk council sorry for wrongly telling man he is dead

Stuart Dobson was surprised when his local council told him he was dead

A council has apologised to a recent widower after mistakenly sending him a letter about his death.

South Norfolk Council told Stuart Dobson, 77, it was "sorry to hear" he had died and informed him he could get a council tax exemption.

It came just one month after his wife of 54 years, Ann, had died.

Replying to the letter to convince them he was alive had caused him "distress", Mr Dobson said. The council apologised and said it was a case of human error.

Mr Dobson said the letter had added to his stress at a time when he was already suffering, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Part of the letter sent to Mr Dobson earlier this month

Mr Dobson responded to the council, calling officials "ill-informed".

"I have been up there to give them a letter, I've hand-delivered it to the council, telling them, 'Do I look dead to you?'

"It's an utter shambles, they're asking me to fill in forms when they think I'm dead, it doesn't make sense. I don't need this at all," he said.

Mr Dobson captioned his letter to the council Mr SL Dobson (deceased)

In his letter to the council, Mr Dobson, wrote: "I have today received an ill-informed letter from you telling me that I have passed away.

"It occurs to me that only the [council] would write to a deceased person and ask them to fill in a council tax form. One doubts their sanity and rational thinking when taking such an action."

A council spokesman said: "The council has apologised to Mr Dobson for the mistake made when updating our records following the death of Mrs Dobson, and we regret that our mistake has caused Mr Dobson upset at this difficult time.

"We have reviewed what happened and unfortunately this was a case of human error for which we are deeply sorry."