Council tax ‘martyr’ to be released
-04/10/05
A retired vicar is due to be released from prison after serving 28 days for not paying his council tax.
Magistrates sent the Rev Alfred Ridley, 71, of Towcester, Northants, to HMP Woodhill, a Category A lock-up near Milton Keynes, after he refused to hand over an 8.5% council tax rise, branding it “illegal”.
Instead he and wife Una, 72, paid South Northamptonshire District Council a 2.5% increase, in line with inflation.
The resultant shortfall, together with bailiff and court costs, brought the total owed by the Ridleys to £691.
Mr Ridley had hoped to be the first pensioner jailed for rebelling against council tax increases to make a point.
He believes that tax should be based on people’s ability to pay and says pensioners have suffered because of the widening gap between state pensions and council tax.
In July, a 28-day jail term was imposed on Ridley but Towcester magistrates suspended it for a month on the condition he paid up.
He refused to settle the debt and in September he was jailed.
It is thought Ridley is the first pensioner in the UK to be sent to prison for withholding the full amount of his council tax.
Council tax ‘martyr’ to be released
-04/10/05
A retired vicar is due to be released from prison after serving 28 days for not paying his council tax.
Magistrates sent the Rev Alfred Ridley, 71, of Towcester, Northants, to HMP Woodhill, a Category A lock-up near Milton Keynes, after he refused to hand over an 8.5% council tax rise, branding it “illegal”.
Instead he and wife Una, 72, paid South Northamptonshire District Council a 2.5% increase, in line with inflation.
The resultant shortfall, together with bailiff and court costs, brought the total owed by the Ridleys to £691.
Mr Ridley had hoped to be the first pensioner jailed for rebelling against council tax increases to make a point.
He believes that tax should be based on people’s ability to pay and says pensioners have suffered because of the widening gap between state pensions and council tax.
In July, a 28-day jail term was imposed on Ridley but Towcester magistrates suspended it for a month on the condition he paid up.
He refused to settle the debt and in September he was jailed.
It is thought Ridley is the first pensioner in the UK to be sent to prison for withholding the full amount of his council tax.