A GRIEVING York widower has been left angry and upset after he was wrongly accused of failing to pay his council tax and ended up in court.

War hero Joseph French, aged 72, was summoned to appear at York Magistrates Court after he was told by the council he had not paid his council tax - only weeks after his wife had died.

But when he arrived he was informed the matter had been cleared up and there was no reason for him to be at court.

Mr French, who was living at Huntington at the time, spent six months caring for his wife before she died of a brain tumour in February.

But in March he was surprised to get a council tax bill for £101.66, when the couple had already paid their bill up to April.

Mr French wrote two letters saying he did not owe any money and in fact, as he was now living in the house alone, the council owed him money.

But a month after he sent the letters he received a court summons for the original £101.66 plus £30 in costs.

Another letter then came from the council, apologising for the delay in replying and saying that his account had been amended.

Mr French was also given a refund of £25.42, but there was no mention of the forthcoming court case. He attended court on May 29, but when he arrived he was told by a council representative that his case had been cleared up.

Mr French, who has now moved to Leeds to be with his daughter, said: "If you get a court summons as far as I am concerned you have to go.

"When you are at my stage in life your good name means a lot and I had nothing to say that the court case had been cancelled."

Ann Stewart, acting income manager with City of York Council, said: "This is obviously a very unfortunate incident, and I have apologised personally to Mr French.

"Our team deals with over 3,000 deceased accounts every year and mistakes are, fortunately, pretty unusual.

"In this case, an internal error meant that, although Mr French was reimbursed with the money he was owed, we didn't tell him that he wouldn't have to respond to the

court summons.

"I appreciate that this was a very distressing incident for Mr French and we have offered to reimburse him for the cost of a return rail fare from his current home in Leeds to the court in York.

"I will also send him a formal letter of apology."

Updated: 10:56 Wednesday, June 11, 2003