BAILIFFS have shocked relatives by chasing a dead great-grandmother for council tax she never owed

BAILIFFS have shocked relatives by chasing a dead great-grandmother for council tax she never owed.Debt collectors working for Liberata, the company that collects tax on behalf of North Somerset Council, have been trying to recover about £150 from upstanding mother-of-three Ruby Bowyers, who lived in Laburnum Road in Weston until her death on her 80th birthday last July.Her outraged daughter Pauline Thorne told the council to call off the bailiff company, but the message did not get through.Mrs Thorne, of Landseer Close in Worle, said: "Mother was a proud woman. She managed on her own as a widow for quite some years and kept her house immaculate and never owed a penny to anyone."I don't think they should be allowed to encroach on people like this and try to get money from a dead person."The bailiffs had been at mother's house and knocked at a neighbour's door asking where she was."I rang the council and said that mother didn't pay council tax because she was on benefits."They didn't offer any explanation about why she had this debt. Two weeks later I got a letter from the bailiffs asking about the money."Every time this happens is very upsetting. They are saying she owed money a year after she died. They shouldn't be allowed to do this. They shouldn't have the right."A council spokesman said: "It was a mistake and we are sorry. We have written to the bailiffs and the family to apologise for any distress that has been caused. Our system had not recorded that Mrs Bowyers had passed away. She did not owe any money.