Council tax rebel Hugh Strang has begun a 49-day jail sentence for failing to pay £1,474 arrears.

Strang, 60, of Bowness Avenue, Didcot, was given a suspended sentence in January on condition that he paid £22 a month. But he failed to make a single payment to South Oxfordshire District Council.

Thame magistrates heard yesterday he had not paid any poll tax or council tax for eight years.

And while he was jailed for the unpaid council tax, he could face another prison sentence for poll tax arrears when he is released.

The former lorry driver, who lives alone with his cat and four dogs, has a suspended jail sentence hanging over him for non-payment of poll tax totalling £1,315 from 1990-93.

After he was sent to prison, the council had to liaise with police over the care of his animals because Strang lives on his own. A council spokesman said all his animals had been taken into care.

Neighbours who did not want to be named described Strang as a polite man, although he appeared to be someone with a chip on his shoulder. He is a familiar figure in the town walking his dogs most days. A district council spokesman told the Oxford Mail every effort had been made to persuade Strang to apply for benefits to which he might be entitled, but he did not respond to council letters. The court summons was a last resort.

Paul Howden, of the council's finance department, said: "The vast majority of people pay their taxes regularly, but there is a minority still owing money.

"With government funding reducing year on year, it is imperative that local taxes are collected to help maintain the services we provide.

"Therefore the message is that people who wilfully refuse to pay will be taken all the way. Not to do so would be grossly unfair to those people who do not pay and contribute to the cost of our services. What we gather now goes to help keep future taxes down."

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