A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
Court summons have been mistakenly issued to two individuals, one of whom had not received reminder letters as she had changed address.
Up to 7000 people could be set to receive payment requests in the post due to a delay in registering exemptions.
The Yorker understands that officials usually collect housing data from universities in September but the process was put off until midway through November.
A York city council spokeswoman said: "We are sorry for the distress caused to the two students who were affected and we have corrected their council tax accounts."
"We recently implemented a major change in the way that we process student discounts in order to simplify and speed up the process.
"Unfortunately there were some initial problems with the management of this process that led to a small number of inappropriate summons letters being issued."
We are sorry for the distress caused
"In future years, the changes made will enable all students to claim and receive their student discounts more quickly."
Officials work out which properties are exempt from the tax by matching a list of registered student houses provided by landlords with university records of where students are living.
Payment requests have been sent out during the delay as fees need to be collected before the end of the financial year in April.
Amended letters should be delivered when records are updated by staff.
A student support office spokeswoman said: "Some students living in private accommodation have received liability orders for unpaid council tax from city of York council."
"However, often the property concerned is actually exempt from council tax and the students do not have an outstanding council tax bill."
"If you receive a council tax bill do not ignore it."
Local council tax rates for 2007/8 range from £680 to £2450 depending on the value of the property.
Students have not been eligible for the payment since a successful NUS campaign in 1991.
The council spokeswoman added: "Should any student have concerns about their council tax account at any time, they are welcome to contact the York Customer Centre on 01904 551550."
If you are concerned about council tax more information is available here
Not that surprising. You always hear of a few students getting summons by mistake, though never on such a massive scale.
I got one of these too. I rang them up; they said ignore it. Problem solved. No stress. No news. My court date is this week coming.
What a jerk!! These issues affect people differently and the stress of getting a court summons can be pretty high! Just because you think you can swan through life being nonchalant doesn't mean other people are as arrogant and self-obsessed.
lol. Anonymous number 3, you win the prize for biggest overreaction this century.
This happened to me and one of my housemates last year. I warned my seminar leader I may miss a seminar because I'd be in the dock. However, after ringing the council, they said it was just a massive delay. If you get one, just ring the council asap to confirm they've got all your paper work (they can check it) but- as always- there's a delay in processing it. I take it that Number 3 is someone who wouldn't take it well but I'll just stress the phoning the council if you're unsure.
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report