A RUBERY resident has expressed his outrage after paying for a garden waste invoice sent to him by his local authority which was incorrectly sent and wrongly priced.
Douglas, of Hazel Road, Rubery told the Standard he had received a letter from Bromsgrove District Council requesting he pay an invoice for the newly set annual garden waste bin charge.
After paying the £60 fee he was later told the new fee has yet to be set and the letter was intended for Redditch recipients.
This letter is believed to have been sent out to large parts of Rubery with the possibility that many residents have paid invoices not intended for them.
The residents were told they would be reimbursed for the paid invoices.
“It has cost me money and time, the people who’ve made this mistake must be penalised for this,” Douglas said.
On social media, the council wrote: “Whoops. We’ve discovered that we sent out some of our 2024 Garden Waste service invoices in error, and with a wrong price on.
“We’ve already started contacting people directly with full advice. We’re sorry if you’ve had this invoice. Don’t pay it – we’re cancelling it.
“We’ll be sending all our customers bills for the actual amount soon.”
In a statement to the Standard, Environmental Services manager Simon Parry said: “Thanks to those reports we were able to immediately find and stop the problem, write straight back to the people who had been sent one of the stray invoices, and publish advice online too.
“No further issues have been reported.”
BDC Rubery South councillor, Esther Gray, told the Standard: “I understand the council has apologised.
“All I can say to my residents is, I apologise on behalf of the council, even though it is not my responsibility to issue invoices.
“This appears to be incompetence and we plan to question the council and fully investigate how this error was made.”
Councillors are set to decide this year’s garden waste service prices next Wednesday (January 24), at the Full Council meeting.
Residents can still apply for the 2024 garden waste service, which starts in the week of February 27 or March 5 depending on your bin day.
Visit www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/gardenwaste or call 01527 881288 for more information.
