Louth Co.Council Get Your Act Together.
The fact that Louth County Council has this week been forced to issue a formal letter of apology to a local family after their mother, who died ten years ago, was recently prosecuted in the courts and fined for an offence under the Litter Act, highlights the rather common occurence of families receiving correspondence addressed to the departed loved ones after their demise.
Utility companies, such as electricity, and telephone are frequently guilty of this problem, until such time as the families provide them with updates, but one would expect the local authority to implement a way to avoid unnecessary, and distressing correspondence.
It this case Louth County Council really surpassed themselves when they prosecuted the deceased woman which resulted in her being fined €250, expenses of €200 and costs of €75.
A spokesperson for the County Council said this week that they deeply regretted the incident and would be writing to the family to apologise for the hurt they have caused.
They also said that the summons was “legally issued” in accordance with their procedures, which included the issuing of registered notification.
A registered letter requires a signature when it is being delivered and it is entirely unlikely that someone else, now residing at old family home, which was sold four years ago, signed for it.
The Council says they have now undertaken a review of their procedures to ensure that a situation like this does not happen again.
It was probably an excusable happening in the years BC(before computers)but one would imagine it would be possible to link with, or update their housing records on a regular basis, from the North Eastern Health Board computers, where presumably, death certificate records are stored.
Utility companies, such as electricity, and telephone are frequently guilty of this problem, until such time as the families provide them with updates, but one would expect the local authority to implement a way to avoid unnecessary, and distressing correspondence.
It this case Louth County Council really surpassed themselves when they prosecuted the deceased woman which resulted in her being fined €250, expenses of €200 and costs of €75.
A spokesperson for the County Council said this week that they deeply regretted the incident and would be writing to the family to apologise for the hurt they have caused.
They also said that the summons was “legally issued” in accordance with their procedures, which included the issuing of registered notification.
A registered letter requires a signature when it is being delivered and it is entirely unlikely that someone else, now residing at old family home, which was sold four years ago, signed for it.
The Council says they have now undertaken a review of their procedures to ensure that a situation like this does not happen again.
It was probably an excusable happening in the years BC(before computers)but one would imagine it would be possible to link with, or update their housing records on a regular basis, from the North Eastern Health Board computers, where presumably, death certificate records are stored.
posted by Editor at 6:32 p.m.
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