SOUTHEND Council has apologised for wrongly sending a householder a repair bill for a pavement which didn’t need fixing.

Campaigner Boo Beckett took up the case after a friend was threatened with court action if they didn’t pay the £122 bill.

The council claimed Mr Beckett’s friend, who does not want to be named, was driving across a pavement to park in the front garden of a house in Woodgrange Drive, Southend.

Because there was no dropped kerb in front of the house, officials claimed the driver had damaged the pavement.

Mr Beckett said: “I got an independent engineer in to assess and confirm there was no damage to the pavement. I even spoke to an officer from the council, who informed me no council engineers had been sent to see if there was any damage.

“The council committed fraud by claiming someone had caused damage when they had not.”

Through freedom of information requests, Mr Beckett learned the council had sent similar letters to 25 people.

He discovered, however, nobody else had challenged the notices – and four had paid up.

The council has now admitted it was wrong to send the notice to his friend, but still insists it is an offence to park in front of a house where there is no dropped kerb.

A council spokesman said: “We accept some procedural errors were made in this case, for which we have apologised.

“However, to suggest the council has acted fraudulently is simply not correct.

“This case has resulted in changes being made to our internal procedures, refunds being agreed and a revised notice being issued.

“It is important to remember it is a breach of section 184 of the Highways Act (1980) to drive over the pavement without a permanent crossing.”

The council would not say how many of the original 25 notices had been sent in error.