A PAIR of 90-year-olds from Cwmbran have received letters "threatening" court actions by Torfaen council over unpaid home help bills for the past two years, despite have payment references.

Gloria Williams and Ted Cogdell, 91 and 99, have the lifeline and telecare system installed in their shared property, which informs an emergency contact in case of an issue.

Last year, Mrs Williams and her brother-in-law Mr Cogdell received two letters over an outstanding balance of £52 on their account, despite receiving a reference of payment, from Torfaen council.

At the end of last month, a similar letter was received from the authority and was followed by another letter one week later, which threatened the pair with legal action.

The bill had been paid by the relatives, who have now decided to have the system removed from their house on Kemys Walk on Thursday.

“They have sent me these letters threatening me with legal action when all they had to do was send me a reminder,” said Mrs Williams.

“If I had not paid it after the reminder, then they would be entitled to do that.”

Her brother-in-law added: “The letter stated that if she did not pay within seven days, she would be taken to court over the missed payment.

“You will get some elderly people receiving that letter and it will frighten them to death.”

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The lifeline system costs £100 to install and there is a £52 payment yearly for the service.

Mr Cogdell added that he and his sister-in-law have no issue with the payment schedule, but the wording of the letter and no reminders for renewal.

“We sent the bill in for £52 and we do not object to that. It is the wording of the letter – there was no notification of when the bill was due for renewal,” he said.

“The letter stated that if she did not pay within seven days, she would be taken to court over the missed payment.

“You will get some elderly people receiving that letter and it will frighten them to death.

“If they had sent the reminder on September 8 or two days before September 8, saying your money was due for this date that would have been paid as soon as we had it.

“Gloria never lets a bill go over when she receives one.”

Mrs Williams described the letters as “upsetting” and felt sick at the sight of them.

“It was very upsetting to read that letter,” she said.

“I felt sick when I received those letters. I couldn’t eat my food.

“I was scared to death about what might happen. I don’t like to think about it even now.”

Mrs Williams’s great-niece and Mr Cogdell’s granddaughter Edwina Hole said that she believed there may be a glitch on their account, which could have accounted for the missed letters.

“It is creating concern and anxiety from a service which is designed to do the opposite,” said Mrs Hole.

“It must be either a glitch on their account or something which has happened to people across Torfaen.”

However, she felt that the letters her relatives received were very strongly worded.

“The system is in place for people who are elderly and vulnerable. The first sentence is “It is my intention to take you to court”. That’s a bit much for people in their nineties,” said Mrs Hole.

“I understand that invoices need to be paid and I know that people will try and dodge paying where the threat of court is needed, but does the wording need to be so threatening for a pair of 90-year-olds.

“They are saying that for two years in a row, they have not had a letter on September 8.

“I can’t see two letters getting lost in the post for two years in a row and I don’t believe that she has lost the letters two years in a row.

“I’m upset that it has had to come to the stage where we are having the system removed. They will be living without their lifeline.

“It is supposed to reassure them but it is doing the exact opposite. Gloria gets in such a state and it has happened for the past two years.”

A council spokesman said:”Invoices are sent out to all users of the telecare service at the same time, followed by reminder notices if the bills are not paid.

“It appears in this instance that although the initial invoices have been sent, they have not been received by the service users for two consecutive years.

“We accept that sometimes there is a cross over between payments being made and reminder notices being sent out.

“We make it clear in our reminder notices that if a bill has been paid then the reminder can be discarded.

“We have contacted the family to offer to liaise with them directly regarding all future payments for the service and have offered to help them set up a direct debit to make the process easier.

“We apologise if this has caused any distress to the service users.”