Greenock girl faced play ban due to mum’s tax arrears

Margaret Mooney says she only discovered she owed council tax when her eight-year-old girl was ‘declined’ a place at the Play 4 All holiday club.

Her daughter Holly Watt has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, suffers agonising muscle spasms and cannot walk or talk.

She was booked in for five days at the playscheme at Craigmarloch School in Port Glasgow, where she is a pupil, but was initially blocked from attending due to her mum’s arrears.

Margaret, 39, of Gilmour Street, said: “It’s me that owes this money – not my daughter. It’s absolutely ridiculous that Holly wasn’t allowed to get on the scheme unless I made an arrangement to pay.”

She added: “I thought the council tax was getting deducted from my benefits.

“I didn’t know I was in arrears, as far as I knew I was only getting a statement saying what the bill was.

“I hadn’t been sent any letters and the council said they didn’t send a court demand because I was on low income.”

Margaret registered Holly’s details for the club a few weeks ago but was declined.

When she called the council she was told she owed £15 fees from last year, and immediately settled up.

Margaret said: “I wasn’t aware that was outstanding from last year and paid it straight away, and that was all fine. Then I had to change her days and called up the school and the person who runs the scheme said it had been declined again.

“She told me that Holly would not be able to be picked up in the morning if I didn’t phone the council.”

When Margaret contacted the council she was stunned to be told that she owed £1,000 in council tax dating between 2011-2014 – and was warned that unless she made an immediate arrangement to pay then Holly would be excluded from going to the playscheme with her friends.

She said: “They gave me two weeks to set up a payment and said if I missed a payment without contacting the council, Holly wouldn’t be allowed on the playscheme.”

Margaret is furious and upset by the way the council dealt with the issue and she believes Holly was unfairly penalised for something which had nothing to do with her.

She said: “I don’t dispute I owe the money but they should have contacted me directly.

“I’m so upset that they have used Holly to force me to make an arrangement. What has this got to do with my wee daughter?

“I told the man at the council that this has nothing to do with my daughter or her school but he said that her placement was made in my name.

“I think it’s cruel that they would stop my wee girl from attending a playscheme because of a debt from five years ago – it’s a disgrace.

“My daughter’s school also now know I’m in debt – I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life.

“What is making me so angry is that it is affecting Holly too. People think because Holly is sitting in a chair and is non-verbal, she doesn’t know what’s going on – but she has feelings as well and it’s embarrassing for her too.

“This playscheme is all she’s got and it’s five days out of seven weeks of school holidays.  There is nothing else and she is with me 24/7 the rest of the time.

“She loves Play 4 All, she sees her friends.”

Margaret says she was relieved when an agreement was finally put in place so Holly could attend the club as planned, but she insists the situation should never have got this far.

She told the Tele: “She didn’t miss any of it but she was going to if I hadn’t phoned up to make an arrangement.”

A council spokesman said: “While we cannot comment on individual cases, when someone owes us council tax we make every reasonable recovery effort. 

“Bear in mind council tax contributes to many essential services across Inverclyde. 

“We would like to make clear, however, that council tax or other arrears have no bearing on you being able to access services, provided we have been made aware of the circumstances.

“Getting in touch with us quickly gives us a better chance of helping to bring debts under control, through practical measures like payment arrangements and advice.”