A TAXI driver prevented a crooks' credit bonanza after finding scores of council tax bills left in the street.

The taxi driver, who does not want to be named, was picking up a customer from Sparth Manor, Clayton-le-Moors, when he spotted a pile of envelopes on a wall. When he took a closer look he saw they were the council tax bills for some of the houses on Chestnut Grove.

He said: "I didn't know what to do so I picked them up.

"But a friend told me that criminals will pay money for other people's bills as they can use them to get up to £1,000 interest-free credit in high street shops.

"If these bills had fallen into the wrong hands the poor residents could have ended up with bills for goods they hadn't even bought. "Not only that, they wouldn't have known about their council tax bill until they got another letter demanding to know why they hadn't paid it.

"I'm going to take them to the council to make sure they get to their rightful owners."

Hyndburn Council pays staff to deliver the council tax bills and said the incident was due to an error by one of the delivery workers.

A council spokesman said: "We would like to thank this gentleman and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph for bringing this matter to our attention.

"It was purely a mistake on behalf of one of our members of staff. "There is no cause for alarm as the council would have known these bills had been lost and the residents concerned will be receiving new bills tonight."

Police Inspector Bob Ford said: "This man did the right thing in handing these bills back to the council.

"These sorts of documents can be quite useful to people who want to create a new identity."

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