MIRFIELD couple Robert and Christine Wailes spent many sleepless nights fretting over a massive tax bill they did not even owe.
This is yet another case of a large bureaucratic organisation sending out wrong demands to people while failing to deal with their protestations of innocence.
In the end, after seven months of hell, they were proved right.
So what did Her Majesty’s Revenues and Customs do about it? A letter was sent with the word ‘sorry’ blanked out and a ‘compensation’ cheque for a paltry £25.
The tax system is being overwhelmed, certainly not helped by 17,000 job losses over the last three years and more than 100 tax offices closed.
But, once again, the big loser in all this is the customer – in this case the public who find it almost impossible to halt the red tape juggernaut of a wrong bill.
