A Kirkcaldy woman told the Star today that she’d been left “in tears” as her council hounded her for bedroom tax arrears while she recovered from a heart attack.
Council tenant Mandy Fairgrieve said she was at her wits’ end over £340 in rent arrears caused by the cut to her housing benefit.
Ms Fairgrieve was at the doctor’s office when the Star called today as she was still recovering from a heart attack late last year.
Her illness did not stop council officers from chasing her for the cash.
“I’m at my wits’ end because of the bedroom tax, they want me to find 25 per cent of my rent out of the blue,” she said. “I’ve been a council tenant for 40 years and have never owed them a penny in all that time. “I just broke down in tears after the call.”
Ms Fairgrieve said she had applied to the council for a temporary discretionary housing payment, but was told to sell her television, DVDs and other consumer electronics first.
“They even counted my disability living allowance as part of my income which they’re supposed to ignore. “The whole system is rotten to the core,” she said.
Kirkcaldy Anti-Bedroom Tax Campaign’s Louise McLeary said she had heard similar stories of people told to get rid of their dogs, telephones and, in the case of a woman with a severely disabled husband, a car.
Benefit tales 
Reblogged this on Vox Political and commented:
Here’s a follow-up to today’s Vox Political bedroom tax article. To my way of thinking, it isn’t the fact that this lady was left in tears that is bad – it’s the fact that a woman recovering from a heart attack was being harassed for payment. Is this a way for the DWP to get local councils to do its dirty work?
Pingback: Heart attack victim left in tears by bedroom tax chase | Street Democracy - where it should reach
Councils are not to blame for the draconian policies of this unelected government,but they should be a bit more sympathetic to the circumstances of their tenants.
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FFS Even if the Ms. Fairgrieve’s chattels fetched enough to pay off the arrears it isn’t going to prevent her going back into arrears
Reblogged this on HUMAN RIGHTS & POLITICAL JOURNAL.