Okay, apologies.
For what it's worth, I would like to apologise for both rants -- both the original post and the badly-punctuated diatribe that followed it.

Short version: I recieved some bad news recently, and have been drinking since I got home. This latest round of combat with the council over an error that wasn't mine the in the first place was the straw that broke the camel's back, so I got angry and drunkenly/childishly lashed out. If I had been sober, and/or stopped to think, I wouldn't have contemplated the hare-brained scheme in the first place. Still, this is what you get for posting angry.

Why do I bother to tell you all this in the first place? Well, first of all because I have now been quite sick and as a result am now thinking more clearly, and realise what i plank I must have sounded. I also think it would be in very poor form simply to delete the original post, because whilst I am perhaps a little embarassed I'm certainly not so small-minded that I can't admit when I'm wrong.

Even so, I still plan to complain directly to the authorities (yet again) and try once more to sort things out. This is not the first time that I've had to battle the council over of their own mistakes, but like a fool I haven't ever documented the problems until now. That is all going to change, however. Maybe I will have to give myself another headache getting them to admit their error yet again, and maybe it will take another few weeks or months to resolve, but from today I'm now putting everything in writing and recording every telephone call via Skype. Once my immediate an personal issues are resolved I'll make a formal complaint to my coucillors in writing. It'll likely get me nowhere, but at least I can make the effort and have a legal record that I have.

It may have been expressed in an entirely harsh and judgemental fashion, but maybe the message is quite correct... it's time to stop acting like a victim and take charge of myself. How fitting that the weapon of choice should be the very one that the council so often hides behind: beaurocracy and red tape.
(Orin delurked to post this gibberish on, Mon 27 Oct 2008, 23:56, 1 reply)

If it makes you feel any better...
I empathise. I know you don't want to waste other taxpayers' money. Councils respond to any debts much more aggressively than private companies, and they always seem to like to send out court summons if an error has occurred that has prevented payment, or if there has been a misunderstanding regarding how long you've lived in the property etc.

Considering that local government is supposed to serve and look after the people, I think their heavy-handed response is pretty inappropriate, especially when bureaucratic errors seem to be much more frequent than deliberate attempts at evasion...can't be very nice for vulnerable members of society to be on the receiving end of it.
(Ovaltina, Tue 28 Oct 2008, 1:19, closed)