Apology for £7.7m council tax and business rates error
An Essex council has apologised after mistakenly taking payments for council tax and business rates four days early.
Braintree District Council said nearly 40,000 residents were affected but the authority has pledged to reimburse any bank charges incurred by the error.
The payments should have been collected on 3 September but were instead taken on 30 August.
They totalled £5.4m in council tax and £2.3 in business rates. The council has apologised for the mistake.
A spokesman said: "We have given an apology to all residents who were adversely affected by the error and explained how any bank charges caused by the council's actions would be reimbursed.
"At present it is too early to gauge those costs as many residents may not yet know if they have incurred a charge from their bank till they receive their bank statement."