A WIDOW has received an apology from her local authority after it sent council tax letters to her late husband.

Addressed to Mr Alfred Shelley Deceased, the correspondence left his widow, Rene, angry and shocked.

The letters, from Redcar and Cleveland Council's housing benefits section, outlined Mr Shelley's council tax entitlement for the month following his death on March 2.

Mrs Shelley, 72, of Marshall Drive, Brompton, said: "It is hard enough coping without getting things like this and it is just not on.

"I was really distressed at first, but I am over being upset now and I am just angry."

Authority deputy chief executive Ray Richardson said: "This is a very regrettable and upsetting incident, and we offer our sincere apologies to this family. A full and urgent investigation is now under way but it has emerged that the problem arose during transfer from one computerised system to another and this has now been rectified.

"We understand that a number of people may have been affected, and we will be contacting all of these families and offering an explanation and our apologies."