A BANK has hit back at claims that it was to blame for a mix-up over council tax payments.

Burnley Council was inundated with complaints after some people who had agreed to pay their bill by standing order were included among 5,500 sent letters for not meeting the first instalment.

It warned that they faced possible court action and costs if they did not come up with the cash. The council's taxation officer Michael Frazer told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph last week that problem rested with the Abbey National but a spokesman for the bank today laid the blame with the council.

The spokesman said: "One of our Burnley branches receives many standing orders from the council in February, as its offices are opposite the branch. The branch then sent the standing orders straight to the banking centre in Bradford, which processed them.

"Approximately four weeks later, customers were then coming into the same branch with amended standing order forms asking that Abbey National amend them because of the wrong amounts on the original forms."

This further delay resulted in the second batch of forms being processed too late for the first payment to be made.

The spokesman added: "Abbey National was not actually warned by Burnley Council that a problem had arisen.

"The standing order forms are pre-printed with amounts before the customers fill them in. The branch only assumed there had been a problem when it received a number of amended forms."

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