A ROSSENDALE firm of bailiffs has apologised for chasing a heavily-pregnant woman for council tax arrears.

Mother-of-two Lyndsay White, 29, from Clifton, Nottingham, owed £706 when the city council called in a bailiff from Rawtenstall firm Rossendale's.

But because a bailiff did not report she was pregnant after visiting her address, a second employee turned up just hours after she had undergone a four-hour delivery which ended in a still birth.

Today bosses at the company based in Hardman Mill, New Hall Hey Road, apologised but added the bailiff had not known Ms White was pregnant.

Ms White, a single mother with children aged ten and 13, fell into arrears with her council tax in 2004.

In August 2004 she discovered she was pregnant. Her due date was May 20.

In November 2004 the council passed the matter on to the bailiffs Rossendale's. A bailiff visited the pregnant mum on April 26 this year.

On May 4, Ms White was told her baby's heart had stopped beating, and she underwent a four-hour delivery which ended in a still birth.

But on May 5, another bailiff from the same company turned up, although they did not speak to anyone. Council officials have claimed Rossendale's had received a letter from the family's solicitors on April 28 telling them Ms White was pregnant.

Ms White has now arranged to pay the money she owes at £5 a week.

Julie Green-Jones, legal and operations director at Rossendale's, said: "There's absolutely no medical evidence to connect the two incidents.

"When the bailiff turned up he did not know she was pregnant and she never indicated that she was. It was human error and we have done as much apologising as we can. We sent the bailiff on a training course which is our policy when we receive a complaint."

Nottingham City Council said if bailiffs had referred her case back on discovering she was pregnant, action would have been suspended.