CITY of York Council has reassured 700 residents that its blunder in sending them council tax reminders will not damage their credit ratings.

The authority said that the reminder letters, sent out by mistake earlier this week, were issued internally and with no court involvement. "They will not affect any credit rating etc," said a spokeswoman.

"In the cases where they were wrongly issued, they will be cancelled from the system and there is no disadvantage at all to the customer, other than the inconvenience and worry of getting them in the first place."

The Evening Press reported in later editions yesterday how 700 people had been sent letters, wrongly telling them they were behind with their council tax payments. Many of them were residents who paid by half-yearly instalments, who were told for some reason that their monthly instalments were in arrears.

A number of residents who complained to the paper expressed concerns that their future ability to obtain credit might be adversely affected.

Asked if the council yet knew how the mistake had arisen, and what steps were to be taken to prevent it happening again, the spokeswoman said further work was being done, adding: "We'll be in a better position to decide what should be done in due course."

Updated: 10:00 Wednesday, October 06, 2004