Council issues apology after emails are blocked (From York Press)

City of York Council issues apology after emails are blocked

9:38am Friday 19th October 2012 in News

City of York Council has apologised after a resident discovered all his emails to the authority had been blocked for almost a year, without him being informed.

The man, who does not want to be identified, estimated he had sent about 100 emails to officers and councillors, including some to Tory group leader Ian Gillies and to the planning department, and wondered why he had not been receiving any replies.

He said he only discovered what had happened after he was prompted to call the council by an article in The Press on Tuesday.

The newspaper reported then how quantity surveyor and council arch-critic Paul Cordock had found his emails had not been getting to council officials and members since August.

Andy Docherty, assistant director for governance and ICT, told the man that his emails had been blocked as a result of him sending one which was considered to be offensive on October 4 last year.

He said it had been intended to block his access to particular offended individuals but regrettably, the request was misunderstood and a block was applied to any email he sent. The error was then compounded by the fact the council did not advise him his emails had been blocked, and he apologised for both errors.

Coun Gillies said he prided himself on trying to reply to every email but could not do this if they did not get to him, and he intended raising the matter with chief executive Kersten England.

City of York Council said staff at its IT department had confirmed they knew of no other York resident who had been blocked from all users by the council.