'I got court summons for bill I never received'

The States insists its system for sending invoices is working as it should despite complaints from people ordered to appear in court over the non-payment of bills they say they never received.

Liz Orton, from Guernsey, said she went to the emergency department at Princess Elizabeth Hospital on 4 November 2024 and was told she could not pay the £250 on discharge.

But she said she was "surprised" to receive a petty debts court summons because she never received a bill in the post.

Mandy Robilliard, manager at the Customer Hub, said she investigated but she did not identify any issues with how invoices were sent.

Other islanders reported on social media never receiving invoices for States charges, including hospital and recycling bills.

Orton said she received a call from a sheriff eight months after her hospital visit for the non-payment of the £250 bill. A petty debt court summons also comes with a cost of £76.

She contacted the Revenue Service which she said told her the bill had been posted on 19 November and two subsequent reminders sent on 23 and 30 December.

Orton said: "My anger at all of this is that simply we'd never received a bill.

"To go from that to then be served as summons and that was a cost of £76, which angered me more.

"I'd then gone back and said I paid the £250, I'm not arguing that, but I don't want to pay the £76 because we've never had the bills."

Robilliard said she appreciated it was "frustrating and concerning" for islanders to receive a court summons seemingly out of nowhere.

"However, having looked into it, our processes and systems for sending out invoices are working as they should, which suggests the problem may lay elsewhere," she said.

She reminded islanders to check their email spam folders if they were expecting a bill.

"Some customers have opted to receive invoices via email... invoices can end up in people's junk folder, as is the case with communications from other organisations," she said.

"It's also important to make sure that your home address that we have on record is up to date."

A Guernsey Post spokesperson said it had "clear and robust procedure" for the processing and delivery of mail.

"Our delivery performance is consistently of a high standard," they said.

"While, as with any postal operation handling thousands of items each day, occasional misdeliveries can occur, these represent a small number of exceptions, and we continue to provide a reliable and trusted postal service across the bailiwick."

Martin Jones, a disputes and risk partner at Guernsey law firm Babbé, said people should contact the States if they have not received a bill before receiving a summons.

"Try and reach agreement for the summons to be either withdrawn completely or at least for the court date to be adjourned to give them time to try and pay," he said.

"It's really important that somebody who receives a summons doesn't ignore it completely."

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