Bedridden pensioner Frances Sargent was left trembling when she was threatened with court for being a few days late with her council tax payment.

Mrs Sargent, 81, who has been seriously ill with thrombosis, couldn't believe her eyes when the court summons arrived from Oxford City Council.

Her family's pleas that she always paid her bill at the end of the month were ignored by council officers who insisted their computer was right and the payment was due on the fifth.

The council has now made a full apology to the widow who is still recovering from the upset at her home in South Street, Oxford.

And the case could result in new efforts to spare elderly council tax payers from similar ordeals.

Mrs Sargent said: "This has left me absolutely shattered. My husband would turn in his grave."

Although her monthly bill of £42 is due on the fifth, Mrs Sargent has been in the habit of paying towards the end of the month.

The council had not quibbled at the arrangement - until now, when, without warning, the court threat dropped through her letterbox.

Mrs Sargent said: "If they had said they couldn't cope with that I would have paid early. The only debt I have is my Marks and Spencer credit card."

The pensioner's daughter Pauline Kelly, 43, branded the council "heartless" and insisted her mother had never received any reminder. She said: "My mother has taken this so badly. It has really hurt her pride and left her very down and depressed.

"She has been treated in hospital for a back injury and thrombosis in her leg. This has really set her back. We have had to have the doctor in to look at her. It just makes me so angry when I think of how she went every month, when she was well enough, to pay her council tax at the post office or council offices." Chris Quainton, council services manager for local taxation, agreed that age was not taken into account. But this was something now being urgently reviewed in the light of the case.

In a letter apologising to Mrs Sargent, he said: "I should explain that the council does not keep details of your age on the council tax records."

He accepted that her account was now fully paid up and said he recognised that the family had received an unacceptable response when they had complained.

Mr Quainton wrote to Mrs Sargent: "The summons had been issued because payments had not been made on time. This can be corrected by paying by the due date or having a special arrangement with us. I am very sorry that you were caused so much distress."

Mrs Kelly, who with husband Stephen, 51, shares her mother's home, said: "My mother was lucky because she had us to sort it out. But it is a terrible worry to think other pensioners are having to go through this, while there are so many non-payers getting away with it."

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