A resident has had his request for fees to be deducted from a council workers’ wage packet, after the authority failed to pay a debt, turned down.

In April, debt collectors Steve Pinner and Max Carracher were seen visiting Havering Town Hall on Channel 5’s Can’t Pay? We’ll Take it Away! programme to collect a debt of £12,413.94.

The council had been taken to court by a private landlord after their property was damaged by a benefit tenant.

In a Freedom of Information (FOI) request , a resident known only as Glenn asked: “Who was responsible for not paying this on time?”

In the response made last month, a council officer said: “Unfortunately, the delay in settling was due to an administrative error.”

Glenn then asked: “Will the fees be deducted from the person’s wages rather than my council tax?”

But he was told “no”.

The original amount claimed by the landlord was £9,999 but spiralled when the debt, now settled, went unpaid.