Grieving widower told by council ‘your wife walked out on you’ when she’d actually died of cancer as he queried benefit bill
THE grandfather-of-three received a notice stating he owed more than £500 because his wife Jean had 'walked out on him'
A GRIEVING widower was told by a council worker that his late wife had “walked out on him” - when she had actually died of cancer.
Derek Landon has spoken of his distress following the “insensitive” call after he phoned about a housing benefit notice mistake.
Mr Landon had received a notice stating he owed more than £500 because his wife Jean had left him.
The 76-year-old, from Hudderesfield, West Yorkshire, said: “She said I can see it all on screen, your wife walked out on you.
“I was taken by surprise by her comments and it took a while for it to sink in."
Derek added: “I could not believe what she was saying and I have no idea how on earth someone can mistakenly put such detail.
“She said my wife had left me, then I left the flat as well but decided to come back to the same flat under a new tenancy. We have lived here over eight years and never left.”
Father-of-two and grandfather-of-three Mr Landon, who lives in a council flat, was married to Jean for more than 55 years.
The former HGV driver was left devastated when Jean died on July 20 this year at the age of 78.
Jean had battled with cancer for a number of years after she was first diagnosed with cervical cancer before learning it had spread to her lungs.
After managing to fight through, the family were dealt another blow as she was diagnosed with liver cancer almost two years ago.
Mr Landon said: “It has been a real struggle for me since Jean’s death. I would not speak to anyone about it for almost a month.
“I have recently started to feel a little better but this has really got to me. I just think it is disgraceful how they can have such wrong details. It is very distressing for those who have lost someone.
“The woman just seemed to be reading it from her computer without any thought or care for the person she was speaking to.
"Even after I told her, she showed no compassion. If that is what she had down, I would still have been able to deliver the message in a much better way than she did. ”
Mr Landon was also confused as to why he had received six council tax bills, ranging from £0 to £74, as he knows he is up to date.
The council official at Kirklees could not see any records about this and only told him about his marital circumstances.
Mr Landon says he has been promised a full transcript of the conversion with the council worker on the 12th September and is now waiting to receive this.
A council spokesman said: “Mr Landon should not have received an overpayment letter from us and we have contacted him to apologise.
“At the time of Mr Landon’s initial phone call, our staff member explained what had caused the issue, provided reassurance that Mr Landon did not owe the money requested and said the situation had now been resolved.
“There had been a mistake in our systems and the staff member also apologised for this error at the end of the call.
“We are sorry for any distress the error has caused.”
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368