Residents face windfall after tax blunderRESIDENTS of a Watford road have been charged too much Council Tax for the past seven years.

Most, if not all, people living in Riverside Road are paying a higher rate of Council Tax than they should be, because their homes were over-valued in 1993.

The error came to light almost three weeks ago but no official notice has been given to those affected.

The blunder was discovered by one of the road's residents, Mr Phil Gorman, who has had his tax cut after the original valuation was ruled inaccurate on April 11.

Mr Gorman has been paying Band D Council Tax since his small three-bedroom home was valued in 1993.

He should have only been paying the Band C rate, according to the recent Valuation Office ruling. This means he has been charged up to £200 too much each year.

All homes in the road were originally valued Band D properties.

Homes are placed in tax bands by the Government's Valuation Office, which has its regional office in St Albans. The amount set for each band is decided annually by local authorities and the county's police authority.

Since finding the error Mr Gorman has contacted friends and neighbours to warn them of other possible mistakes, but was shocked this is not done automatically by Watford Council, which collects the tax.

For one neighbours, Ms Katina O'Herlihy, 44, who has struggled for seven years to pay Band D Council Tax, the news has provoked relief and anger.

She said: 'For all those years when they have been charging me the wrong amount I have been bringing up three children on my own and it has been hard.

'I have told them time and time again I cannot afford to pay, not that I won't pay, that I can't.

'They have taken me to court repeatedly and caused me so much stress and all the time I was being charged the wrong amount.

'When Phil told me about this he said 'I have got some news that will cheer you up', because he knows all the trouble I have had, and it did cheer me up.

'But I am also angry because of all the trouble and because they were clearly not going to tell us. The first I knew about it was from Phil, which was very good of him, but the authorities have not told anybody about it.

'All the houses along this road are the same and all of them must be wrong.

'I believe they would be quite happy to go on charging us too much.'

Mr Gorman first thought he could be paying too much when he realised his mother, who lives in a large four bedroom house in Gadeswell Close, Garston, was in a band lower than him.

He said: 'I called the Valuation Office in St Albans and they had a look round and said straight away I was in the wrong band.'

Mr Gorman then called Watford Council to tell them about the error and will now be paid back for the extra cash he has been charged.

But Mr Gorman was shocked to discover the council would not be informing his neighbours of the error and believes there may be many others in the town being charged too much.

He said: 'It is disgusting that they must now certainly know people are being charged too much and yet will do nothing about it.

'There are people in this street being taken to court by the council, vet they know the charge is wrong.'

Valuations are carried out by the Valuations Office in St Albans and Riverside Road was last assessed in April 1991, with the valuation coming into force in 1993.

Team leader at the Valuation Office Mr Stephen Mummery said the valuation of other homes would be looked at in time.

He said: 'Three weeks is not a lot of time and we would not have had time to look at the paper work in that time.

'There is a legal requirement for people to pay bills and people must pay them at the level stated. If this is lowered then people can claim money back.

'But when there has bee a re-valuation we will carry out a report so that if we think other buildings are similar we may have the bands looked at.'