Error doubles 2,500 council tax bills

More than 2,500 Londoners were charged double their monthly council tax after a town hall billing blunder.

Barnet council blamed "human error" for the gaffe.

Although the overcharging was discovered an hour after it happened, it meant the victims were left without the money over the weekend.

Conservative-run Barnet has apologised, saying the full amount was refunded to people's bank accounts yesterday and that it will make good any fees incurred.

Its monthly council tax charges range from £79 for Band A to £237 to Band H, which was frozen this year in line with all other London councils.

The borough encourages residents to pay by direct debit, but the latest mistake comes weeks after 3,600 households were sent council tax demand letters that were missing crucial bar codes.

Barnet agreed last month to cut £29.1million from this year's budget. Alison Moore, leader of Barnet's opposition Labour group, said: "This is another example of where the cuts being imposed across the budget and staff redundancies are putting officers under extra pressure."

Councillor Daniel Thomas said: "One hour after realising this problem we started the process of reimbursing those residents.

"They obviously have my sincere apologies, and we'll make sure there is no financial cost to any residents as a result of this."