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Search forCouncil calls for inquiry into KC charges
Thursday, November 20, 2008, 07:00
The Hull-based telecoms company is introducing a £1 charge for people who receive their bills through the post.
Customers will also face a £5 late-payment penalty charge if they fail to settle their bill within a fortnight.
The decision to reduce the payment deadline from 21 days to 14 days follows the closure of the payment desk at the company's Telephone House headquarters in Hull, used for decades by people to pay their bills. Now, councillors in the East Riding have called on their counterparts in Hull for a joint enquiry into the issue.
But a KC spokeswoman said the charges were not unlike those introduced by other organisations.
She also said the company had asked to meet with council leaders to discuss the changes.
At a full council meeting, East Riding Council leader Councillor Stephen Parnaby tabled a motion criticising KC's proposals.
He said: "I am sure, along with myself, members will have had correspondence on the issue.
"People feel passionate about this and we should give KC the opportunity to respond to that."
The motion was passed unanimously by councillors at yesterday's meeting.
Today, Hull City Council leader Councillor Carl Minns was expected to move a similar motion at a full meeting of his authority at the Guildhall.
A KC spokeswoman said: "The changes we are implementing are not dissimilar to those that other organisations already operate.
"We have already written to all East Riding and Hull councillors explaining in detail the facts surrounding these two changes and have requested meetings with the two council leaders.
"We are also more than happy to meet with other representatives from either of the regional councils, as a group or on an individual basis, to discuss this further."
KC currently has slightly fewer than 130,000 customers in Hull and the East Riding.
The councils have no powers to force KC to scrap the charges, but are hoping to apply pressure to prompt a rethink.
Cllr Minns said: "It is clearly an issue of concern and one that crosses boundaries.
"In cases such as this, authorities should work together."
According to KC, the late-payment charge has been in place since 2006, but the switch from 21 days to 14 days was being introduced from late August.
Kingston Communications' headquarters, Telephone House, Carr Lane, Hull
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