Leave The Man Alone

[Pete]

Pensioner's payback - for 83 years!

A PENSIONER forced to refund an overpayment by Northumberland County Council will be paying back his debt until he is 157 years old.

The 74-year-old, who has not been named, has been ordered to pay back the £25,000 he was overpaid in his pension at the rate of just £25 each month.

But it will take 83 years to pay back the money and the pensioner will be 157 before his debt is cleared.

The mistake was uncovered three years ago and the unique pay-back system was arranged after other attempts to recover the money failed.

Councillors have now called for an investigation and Cramlington North councillor Wayne Daley said it is a ridiculous situation.

“There is no evidence that this man has made a fraudulent claim or been involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever,” he said.

“It seems to be a mistake by the council and although £25,000 it is a lot of money in my view the debt should just be cleared.

As quoted in the News Post Leader. online.

Surly common sense should be applied and the pensioner should have this debt written off, It can't be right that a pensioner should have to sit and worry about this or have money took off his pension for the rest of his life. Whats your oponion?

[Mr Darn]

Surly common sense should be applied and the pensioner should have this debt written off, It can't be right that a pensioner should have to sit and worry about this or have money took off his pension for the rest of his life. Whats your oponion?

i agree, this back-tracking over many years is just rediculous!

i personally think the law should be if a mistake has not been uncovered after 2 years then the debt should be repaid up to a maximum of 2 years, and monies before that are forfieted. its obvious the council did not miss this money, or this would have come to light sooner. treating an old age pensioner in this way is dispicable, and fair play to him for getting away with the £25k!

a simmiler incident has happened to me, my parents bought their council house 15 years ago, and 2 years ago the council realised we still had use of a garage that used to be paid for on our rent. so basically we've had a council owned garage for 15 years for nothing!

they demanded a silly amount of money, something in the reigion of £3k for this period (we only paid £10 a month before!) The matter went to court and the judge ruled a compensation payment of £250 would be paid to the council and the rest of the debt written off as it was the councils own fault they did not ask for payment.

now theirs a case of the justice system working to its fullest!

[Denzel]

i agree, this back-tracking over many years is just rediculous!

i personally think the law should be if a mistake has not been uncovered after 2 years then the debt should be repaid up to a maximum of 2 years, and monies before that are forfieted. its obvious the council did not miss this money, or this would have come to light sooner. treating an old age pensioner in this way is dispicable, and fair play to him for getting away with the £25k!

a simmiler incident has happened to me, my parents bought their council house 15 years ago, and 2 years ago the council realised we still had use of a garage that used to be paid for on our rent. so basically we've had a council owned garage for 15 years for nothing!

they demanded a silly amount of money, something in the reigion of £3k for this period (we only paid £10 a month before!) The matter went to court and the judge ruled a compensation payment of £250 would be paid to the council and the rest of the debt written off as it was the councils own fault they did not ask for payment.

now theirs a case of the justice system working to its fullest!

String him up, robbing old sod!

[Pencil_Neck]

String him up, robbing old sod!

Make him go back to work

[Denzel]

Make him go back to work

Excellent call Mr Neck, hope you and the Mrs had a good honeymoon in Venice. I trust you didn't take any of the dreadul records that you inflicted on us at your wedding reception.

[Pencil_Neck]

Excellent call Mr Neck, hope you and the Mrs had a good honeymoon in Venice. I trust you didn't take any of the dreadul records that you inflicted on us at your wedding reception.

Very good thank you Mr Dennis

Apologies, the records will not make another public airing

[Denzel]

Very good thank you Mr Dennis

Apologies, the records will not make another public airing

Glad to hear it - the effect of 'Debaser' on a wedding reception is something I never want to see again.