ANGLIA Revenues Partnership has apologised to council taxpayers in Forest Heath after November direct debit payments were taken from accounts two days early.

The human error left some taxpayers facing bank charges for being overdrawn. But Anglia Revenues Partnership, the organisation responsible for administering Council Tax, has said it will reimburse all legitimate charges.

Forest Heath's Member Champion for Performance and Use of Resources, Councillor Bill Bishop, said: "This is a national award winning partnership and a mistake like this is rare. That said, it is annoying for our council taxpayers and we have asked Anglia Revenue Partnership to instigate a thorough review of what went wrong and to put extra safeguards in place to ensure such a mistake never happens again."

Direct debits are normally taken from bank accounts on the first of the month. But the date was entered incorrectly and the money was taken on 30 October - two days early.

On 30 October the Anglia Revenues Partnership received around 110 calls, but relatively few callers had incurred bank charges.

If you have incurred charges as a result of this mistake please call 01842 756567. To be reimbursed you will need to provide proof of the charges.