It is happening at the moment in connection with the part-year payments for domestic garden refuse bins. After formally notifying the amounts payable by post in March, those actually being debited (and apparently to be debited until December 1) are in excess of the quoted figures.
Individually the sums are tiny, but must apply to hundreds if not thosands of households, and the principle is important - though not to the council's amenities support manager who, when questioned, dismissively replied in writing to the effect that (paraphrasing) "Sorry we originally miscalculated but what does it matter if we deduct a revised amount without telling you? What's more, in response to your question, a figure at which the council would consider it necessary to advise payees of what they are being charged is irrelevant".
So, would we be consulted/notified if the unauthorized amount were £1, £10, £100? To my surprise, my local councillor concurs with the staff member's view.
Well, it matters if you believe that no-one should take even small amounts of cash from your bank account without your permission or knowledge. In my innocence I had imagined this to be legally necessary.
It matters if you are among those who check the accuracy of their bank statements against their own records and have to spend time searching for a discrepancy in order to achieve a balance.
It would certainly matter if, on a future occasion, a sum was taken that resulted in an overdraft!
The moral of this seems to be: If you take something from a shop without paying, make sure it's no more than, say, an apple. And, if you withhold part of your council tax, only keep back a pound or two. Just say sorry when you're taken to task, and you'll be let off.
Seriously, if the amounts involved are too small to justify the costs it would take to re-advise them, then they are small enough to be absorbed by council funds (or, better still, deducted from the salaries of those who made the arithmetical errors in the first place).
L.V. Atter, Coombe Road, Eastbourne