A letter saying you're in arrears when you're not - that's the very last thing you need on a Saturday morning.

CITY of York Council has apologised unreservedly after a woman was mistakenly summonsed for council tax arrears.

A senior officer said it recognised that Julie Paine had suffered distress and inconvenience because of errors by authority staff.

Julie, 29, of Hamilton Drive East, told today how she received a letter one Saturday, summonsing her to appear at York Magistrates Court over council tax arrears of £297 - even though she always made monthly payments by direct debit.

"There was no letter to explain where these arrears were from or even any prior notice that they should be paid before further action was taken," Julie said.

"This is the last thing you need on a Saturday morning when you can't even phone to get an explanation."

After contacting the council on the Monday, it transpired that the problems had resulted from a complex series of glitches in the council tax and housing benefits system.

It all began because she had separated from her husband last October and he had moved out of the family home, and she had started claiming housing benefit and opened up a new council tax account in her sole name.

She had then received a credit into her bank account of £383.43, with no letter explaining exactly why she had received the payment. "I assumed it to be belated council tax benefit and thought no more about it."

It then emerged that money had accidentally been transferred from her old joint council tax account into the sole account. Staff had then realized there was too much money in the sole account and credited the £383 into her bank account. But this left the joint account in arrears, resulting in the summons.

"I have paid every monthly council tax payment and tried to receive benefit that I was entitled to and have ended up with all this hassle," she said.

"It's not like I have refused to pay the council tax or tried to claim money that I wasn't entitled to. So how can things go so wrong?"

Julie McMurray, head of revenues and benefits at the council, said: "We recognise that the mistakes have been made by human error and can only apologise unreservedly to Ms Paine for the distress and inconvenience caused."

Updated: 08:28 Thursday, October 21, 2004