Mr. Cricket
Committee Member
Make the most of it while we can as this Gov will take away our privileges I've no doubt as part of their money grab
Historic status ?
- Thread starter Coltstingray
- Start date
Chuffer
CCCUK Member
If you want an example of Government ineptitude and crass waste of time and resources , try this for size as my local government authority West Northamptonshire Council are past masters at it and no wonder they are nearly bankrupt for the second time .
The guy who owns the race car preparation workshop unit where I keep my Corvette raised an issue with the Commercial Property Rates department a couple of years ago due to the massive increase in his business rates . Having taken advice on the matter he arranged a meeting with the Rates Assessment Officer . The assessor said that as my mate only operated part of the unit for his business and rented the remainder out to me and five other private individuals as workshop / storage spaces , he could drastically reduce his rates bill by erecting low partition walls to define each of our bays , which being then less than the minimum sizes for rateable value would be at no cost us and his years of being over charged would be reimbursed . All us six car owners filled in declaration forms stating we do not operate businesses from the site and have no other business premises elsewhere . My mate is still owed about £30K in reimbursement from WNC despite numerous emails and attempted phone calls ( you can never get to speak to human being ) and in frustration even went to the councils offices but still awaits redress . He received a bulk delivery of 54 separate claims letters in one go from WNC for each tax year going back to 2017 all reading the same word for word !!
Then the week before Christmas I received an email out of the blue with a final demand for £6300 from WNC Business Rates department for my rented bay and stated I would incur penalities if not paid within 5 working days !! At no time had I ever received an official rates invoice even if I was exempt . I immediately replied and got an auto reply saying that due to a backlog in claims they would respond in due course . Wanting to resolve the issue asap I phoned only to receive an automated message saying that due to excessive work loads any email claims would be dealt with on a first come , first served basis . Not being one to let jobs worths off the hook I sent a strongly worded email to the Head of Department before going off to deepest darkest North Wales for Christmas week . On return I received a reply confirming they had looked into my exemption claim and would issue a Zero Charge invoice . This morning our postie shoved 7 identical letters through the door . Each one invoicing me for charges dating back to April 2017 and then cancelling each one to Zero charge . What a waste of trees , postage charges and staff time !! You couldn`t make it up could you ??
The guy who owns the race car preparation workshop unit where I keep my Corvette raised an issue with the Commercial Property Rates department a couple of years ago due to the massive increase in his business rates . Having taken advice on the matter he arranged a meeting with the Rates Assessment Officer . The assessor said that as my mate only operated part of the unit for his business and rented the remainder out to me and five other private individuals as workshop / storage spaces , he could drastically reduce his rates bill by erecting low partition walls to define each of our bays , which being then less than the minimum sizes for rateable value would be at no cost us and his years of being over charged would be reimbursed . All us six car owners filled in declaration forms stating we do not operate businesses from the site and have no other business premises elsewhere . My mate is still owed about £30K in reimbursement from WNC despite numerous emails and attempted phone calls ( you can never get to speak to human being ) and in frustration even went to the councils offices but still awaits redress . He received a bulk delivery of 54 separate claims letters in one go from WNC for each tax year going back to 2017 all reading the same word for word !!
Then the week before Christmas I received an email out of the blue with a final demand for £6300 from WNC Business Rates department for my rented bay and stated I would incur penalities if not paid within 5 working days !! At no time had I ever received an official rates invoice even if I was exempt . I immediately replied and got an auto reply saying that due to a backlog in claims they would respond in due course . Wanting to resolve the issue asap I phoned only to receive an automated message saying that due to excessive work loads any email claims would be dealt with on a first come , first served basis . Not being one to let jobs worths off the hook I sent a strongly worded email to the Head of Department before going off to deepest darkest North Wales for Christmas week . On return I received a reply confirming they had looked into my exemption claim and would issue a Zero Charge invoice . This morning our postie shoved 7 identical letters through the door . Each one invoicing me for charges dating back to April 2017 and then cancelling each one to Zero charge . What a waste of trees , postage charges and staff time !! You couldn`t make it up could you ??
