Council tax rebel released from jail

A retired vicar jailed for non-payment of council tax was released today after serving 28 days in jail.

Alfred Ridley, 71, was released after spending four weeks at Woodhill prison, a category A jail near Milton Keynes, for refusing to pay an 8.5% council tax rise in protest at what he said was an "illegal" increase.

Instead he and wife Una, 72, paid South Northamptonshire district council a 2.5% increase, in line with inflation.

Mr Ridley is believed to be the first person in the UK to be sent to prison for withholding the full amount of his council tax.

On his release Mr Ridley said: "It is not too bad inside but it is much better out here."

He was jailed after Towcester magistrates gave him a suspended sentence back in July on the condition that he paid his debt.

Mr Ridley's bill spiralled to £691 because of court and bailiff costs. He refused to settle the debt and was jailed in September.

Fellow council tax rebel Sylvia Hardy served time in prison last week for refusing to pay council tax arrears on her home.

The 73-year-old retired social worker from Exeter was given a seven-day prison sentence for refusing to pay an increase more than the rate of inflation on her tax bill.

But much to her frustration, she was freed after less than two days after a mysterious donor paid the £53.71 council tax arrears on her home.

Both are members of IsitFair? an anti-council tax protest group made up mostly of pensioners angry at the property-based tax which they say is unfair to those on low fixed incomes.

Mr Ridley still owes the arrears which landed him in jail. He is expected to clarify whether he now intends to pay his debt at a press conference being held later today.

Mr Ridley's wife said he had been treated very well by fellow inmates during his stint at Woodhill, home to some of the country's most violent offenders.

"It's hard to take when you are locked up. I think it's hard for anybody but when you choose to do something, you can't complain.

"It's just 28 days. Some people do a lot more than that. Alfred's bearing up, he's pretty good."

She said they were planning to go away to recuperate for a few days.

Other pensioners who have refused to pay more than a share of their council tax increases have so far escaped jail.

Many claim their local councils have turned a blind eye over their refusal to pay the increases in full.

But the recent government decision to extend the review into local government funding by 12 months has provoked fury amongst anti-council tax campaigners.

IsitFair? campaigner and spokeswoman Christine Melsom warned that the delay in overhauling local government revenue would see more pensioners going to jail until a fairer tax mechanism was put in place.

Yet many councils are already warning that they will be forced to exceed the government-imposed acceptable limit for increases in local bills.

A quarter of local authorities say budget pressures will force them to ignore the 5% limit imposed by government, according to a poll of senior finance officers across 54 councils, published by the Local Government Chronicle last week.

One in 10 respondents spoke of increases of over 7.5%, with almost half of these planning rises of over 10%.