On the 21st December (my 35th birthday for those of you who’d like to send me a card in future!) those lovely people at HM Revenue & Customs sent me a bill for just over £750 for underpayment of tax in the year 2000/01 which I was to pay by tomorrow. In other words 6 business days notice.

There was no explanation as to why nearly 7 years on I was suddenly liable for this amount of money. Much as I’d like it to be otherwise, I just don’t have that sort of money to hand to pay for bills with this little notice. I immediately phoned up the helpline to discuss what the bill was for, why I was suddenly expected to pay it with next to no notice and how I could extend the deadline slightly to give me a chance to come up with the money.

I pointed out that any other business would surely give more than 6 business days notice and if it didn’t (after such a long period of time had elapsed) the Government would come down on them like a tonne of bricks. This is especially bearing in mind that the letter was overtly threatening (non-payment by 3rd Jan would result in a fine and interest would begin to be accrued immediately), had no justification for the request whatsoever and was the first I’d heard. I asked the lady on the other end of the phone, that if I sent her a bill for £750, to be paid within a few days, would she send me the money immediately?

Apparently I was being ridiculous… what would the bill be for she asked? I asked her the same of my tax bill - what’s it for? I worked in that tax year and was part of a PAYE (pay as you earn) scheme - what’s suddenly changed? I was told she couldn’t tell me what it was for, but if I wrote in and allowed one calendar month for it to be processed, they would send me further information. However, I should be aware that fines and interest would begin to accrue immediately 3rd Jan had passed.

All over christmas, this has been at the front of my mind and worrying me desperately. So much so, that my lovely sister-in-law even offered to help out and loan me the money to avoid fines. I didn’t take her up on this kind offer though, as I couldn’t believe I could possibly owe them the money.

Anyway, I got in touch with my old company and asked for them to email me a copy of my P60 for that year which they did.

Armed with this information, this morning I went down to my local tax office (thankfully it’s in Maidstone). It turns out, I’d incorrectly added statutory maternity pay (which should not be taxed) to my income and all of a sudden they’d decided I should be charged additional tax. In addition, this was the year that I was made redundant. I’d filled in the amount of my redundancy in the appropriate box on the form (self-assesment). Any amount under £30,000 is tax free - mine was substantially under this amount, but a clerical error had meant that they now deemed this to be a taxable amount hence the sudden bill.

To cut a very long story short, it turns out that HMRC owe me money (to the tune of at least £500). All I had to do was put my request in writing - they told me exactly what to write - and post to my local tax office. At the time of this, I was on the phone to a national call centre whilst sitting in my local office. I got a piece of paper off a clerk in the office, wrote the letter and handed it in.

How long would it take to process I asked? This is bearing in mind that;

1. I had handed in the letter to my local office (so there won’t be any postal delays); and
2. They’d expected me to deal with this whole issue (and pay) within 6 business days.

The answer?
I need to allow one month for all post.

But it’s not really post I said - just hand it in to the person in the office next door (away from us pesky tax payers) and they can make the two amendments and process the claim immediately.

Oh no, I was told, all letters have to go via our postal system and you need to allow one month.

No doubt my letter is now sitting in someones filing cabinet for an alloted period of time, before being sent to the office next door, via Australia, for someone to file for another pre-determined period before anything’s actually done.

If I have to wait for a month will I still be fined and interest added to this non-existant bill? was my next question.

Yes. I will be fined for non-payment and interest will begin accruing on Friday morning. However, should it be that I do not actually owe any money, they will drop the fines and interest - how very kind!

Final question - Can I fine you for not paying quickly and how do I go about charging you interest?

Apparently, HMRC do not have to pay fines for being slow or making mistakes (surprise surprise) however, interest will automatically be added to my claim, backdated to 2001.

So, although the tax office managed to ruin my birthday, christmas and new year, at least I don’t owe them any money, and even better I’m going to get a lot back!

A happy ending for me, but what about the poor people that just bury their heads in the sand, knowing they can’t possibly afford bills like this and not realising that it may well be just a mistake by the tax office?

I’ve filed this post under ‘crime’ as I think it is one!

I’m not a great fan of trick and treating… I do go out with my children, but we go to only 4 or 5 houses - all of which are pre-arranged and with the persons approval.

In contrast, trick and treating around here seems to involve any person that feels like it, knocking on my door asking for treats. Some of those that came round were what I would classify as young adults - and they didn’t even dress up…

Anyway, unlike last year, when some git nicked the pumpkin Ryan had carved from our front door step, this year we escaped these sorts of actions. All in all, a good year…. or so I thought….

Sadly, my ward colleague, Peter Hooper was informed by a resident (who actually lives on the same estate as me) today of a broken window caused by a youth throwing stones. Even sadder, this is now the third time they will have to replace a pane because this is the third time it’s happened.

Peter and I are working with the Police, Maidstone Council’s community safety team, and also the relevant departments to get increased lighting in the area. Peter is also working to get CCTV cameras moved to the area for a while to see if we can catch anyone up to no good.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, please remember, REPORT ALL CRIMES TO THE POLICE. This is the only way that a good picture of what’s going on in an area can be recorded.

Bridge, Fant and Heath Wards all held their quarterly Councillor’s surgery this morning. As usual it wasn’t particularly well attended, but people that did come had never before contacted any of us (their local Councillor’s), and so it was worth putting on.

Issues brought to Peter Hooper and myself (representing Heath Ward) were very close to the hall which we’d hired this time - so clearly there is value in changing venue each time and moving around the wards.

Sadly, as with every surgery we’ve run, the majority of problems people have is with anti-social behaviour - mostly aimed at teenagers. When I was a teenager (about 100 years ago according to my 6 year old), I was no angel, and I defy anyone to prove they were a perfect teen! However, I’d never hurt anyone, damage property or ‘answer back’ if caught doing something bad.

I remember one occassion when I was about 17, I had a boyfriend who had a car (this was a big deal and I was the envy of a few mates!). Anyway, this being in the days when there wasn’t a certain fast food outlet on every street corner, my boyfriend drove my mates and I, about 30 minutes away to buy a load of burgers etc and then we ate them on the drive back to my friends house. When we arrived, I left all the rubbish on the pavement opposite my friends house. A lady who lived there, saw what I had done and shouted at me to pick up my mess. I was so ashamed of myself, I immediately picked everything up and to this day have never dropped litter again.

By contrast, I recently (while still pregnant with Travis) watched a kid chuck down a half eaten burger in the town centre (right in the middle of the pedestrianised bit) surrounded by about 50 people. Seeing history repeat itself, I asked the lad to pick up his rubbish, thinking he wouldn’t do it again in a hurry. I got told to f**k off. Being a bit hormonal, and not quite believing my ears, I asked again for him to pick up his rubbish. The response I got this time was a little more eloquent, but still peppered with a fair few choice words. The burger remained on the floor. In the end, I picked up the burger and put it in the dustbin (that was about 1 metre from the drop point). I felt a complete idiot, until an older lady came up and congratulated me on having the nerve to stand up to the lad. She said, she’d had much the same response that I’d received in the past and wouldn’t ask anymore.

When did kids stop respecting their elders?

Whilst at the surgery, husband phoned to let me know that he’d just arrived at local (under 5’s) playground with kids, only to find it covered in obscene images and words. Trust me on this, you never want to answer a 6 year old asking: “What does **** mean Mummy?”

A local resident was cleaning down the worst of the graffitti, but there’s only so much you can do without industrial grade equipment - unfortunately, the remaining graffitti must stay until Monday, when Maidstone’s ‘hit squad’ go back to work…

I attended a meeting this evening organised due to the ever increasing number of  complaints regarding Anti Social Behaviour (ASB) around the Oakwood Campus. In attendance were local and County Councillors, the Police & PCSOs, heads of the three secondary schools and representatives from the Community Safety Team (Maidstone Council).

There have been a number of incidents of missiles being thrown from or around Astor of Hever school (mostly rocks, but I’ve had the pleasure of sandwiches being chucked at my car - marmite in case you were wondering). In addition, local residents have been intimitaded by large groups of students out of class hours hanging around by their properties. These ‘visits’ often culminate in large amounts of litter being left, and often with some amount of verbal abuse occurring.

The meeting today highlighted each parties problems with the estate. The general consensus was that parking (and overspill), security and lack of definition of boundaries around each school are all contributing to the problems. All three schools, Astor, St. Simon Stock & Oakwood Grammar, agreed that any allegations of misbehaviour by a student wearing their uniform will be fully investigated and dealt with. But they each went on to say that this is detracting from their main priority, which is of course to teach.

The PCSO assigned to this estate has been absent due to illness for four months and is only just back in post. Hopefully, his renewed presence on and around Oakwood will help ease some of the problems. In addition, County Councillor Dan Daley has offered to pay out of his budget for appropriate lamp posts to be wired up with CCTV cameras. Maidstone’s Community Safety Team have been asked to investigate examples of best practise on simliar campuses across the country, and we did discuss, although not in detail, the idea of students being surveyed to discover what they thought might help the problems.

All these actions will be reviewed in November, hopefully with a positive outcome. Please remember that we need you to report any issues you have either to myself or to the local police. By letting us know all the issues you have, we can build up a file and really see the bigger picture.