A 69-year-old woman was jailed for three months on Monday for refusing to pay her council tax in protest at the condition of her street.
Josephine Rooney was sentenced at Derby Magistrates Court after she failed to pay 800 pounds of council tax arrears.
Derby City Council said it was sorry that Rooney had been jailed but said it had a legal duty to collect the tax.
Rooney had refused to pay up as part of a campaign to secure improvements to Hartington Street in Derby, a once prosperous Victorian area now blighted by boarded up homes, drug addicts and prostitution.
"If going to prison is the price I have to pay to get this street sorted out, then it will be worth it," she told reporters earlier this year.
"Very close to me is a drugs squat and shoot-up gallery and it has been like that for two-and-a-half years."
This month she won a 1,000 pound government award for her work on her local residents' committee.
The council designated the area around Rooney's home a renewal area in 2002 and said it had since spent around 750,000 pounds on improvements in her street.
"We are sorry that Miss Rooney has taken the route of protesting by not paying her council tax and that she has now been jailed," the council said in a statement.
"We don't like to see people jailed for non-payment."
Ken R
This is typical of this governments attitude to us resident "English" people Sod the asylum seekers,criminal elements,spongers, illegal immigrants etc., go for the jugular, jail an old aged pensioner ! Someone who won't run to the nearest lawyer screaming about their Human Rights being violated
They will always exercise the easy option when it comes to making a point, kick someone who won't fight back in costly legal challenges and court mass publicity like ethnic minorities do !
It really makes me mad the way we are treating our fellow countrymen and women !
marieann
Sorry but I think rates should be paid. If everyone used that method to highlight grievances things would soon come to a halt. They are needed to cover, among other things, police, fire crews and refuse collection none of which we can do without and I am sure that lady would have still used all of those if needed.
Ken R
I'm not against paying your per say Marie, my grievance is with the numbnuts who readily jail a pensioner for this, whilst allowing the great un-washed to get away with literally murder
I do wonder where the great rates debacle will end up though. Years ago, i paid my rates and the council collected my rubbish, every week, on the dot. If I put out an extra bin or boxes, nobody minded, they just did their job and took it away. Now....I pay 4 times the rates of 3 years ago, I am expected to house 3 wheely bins, at my expense, on my property. I have to sort my rubbish out by hand, wash empty tins tins etc. and then cart the whole lot out to the end of my drive for the bin men to collect !!! As far as I was aware, it was the councils job to sort and cart rubbish, thats what the rates were for ! Now I pay more and get less, I'm doing the councils job for them and paying more each year for the privelege
I'm not having a pop at you Marie, it's the council that gets my goat up !!!!
Sandie Seward
Your're right, Ken, the councils are doing as little as they can possibly get away with, and it makes my blood boil! To think, up until about two years ago I was a prominent and outspoken member of my local Tenants' Association, and Regional Management Board, I diligently attended all the meetings, listened to the drivel that was spouted, and often wondered to myself just why I was attending these meetings. Nothing ever seemed to get achieved, it was political infighting amongst the other members constantly, and I grew extremely fed up with it. I stood up one evening, and let them know exactly what I thought of them all. Needless to say I was branded as a Trouble-Maker and Agitator, and became very unpopular with the Council Leaders. So much so, in fact, that they have tried, (unsuccessfully) to evict me from my home, no less than three times.
They have not been successful, nor will they be.
On a happier note, that lady who was jailed, has been released because her Council Tax has been paid in full today by a 'Benefactor'.
marieann
I have ranted against our local council for years, hasn't everyone, they are and I am sure always will be almost 100% labour controlled. I had thought people went into this for the benefit of their communities but have discovered it is more for their own and friends and acquaintances benefit. This year they came down in my favour over a planning application so I am feeling kinder towards them.
I can understand what you mean about their reaction to your comments admin. I am like a lot of other people not public spirited enough to try to do anything about it. At least you attempted to.
I just feel that this lady was able to pay her council tax. It annoys me to think of all the people who are struggling, being just over the income cut-off line and doing without and worrying, simply to be able to pay theirs and no one steps in to help. I know pensioners on basic state pension would get full rebate but being on basic state pension also means that they would not have enough money for some necessities and no luxuries.
I'm sorry but I just think that making a protest that way makes a mockery of the struggle other people have in order to pay their dues. I paid business rates for nine years without being able to see what I was getting for them and when the council wasted money on trivia it infuriated me but I still paid them.
Sod the asylum seekers,criminal elements,spongers, illegal immigrants etc., go for the jugular, jail an old aged pensioner ! Someone who won't run to the nearest lawyer screaming about their Human Rights being violated 