An elderly woman was left without money to pay for her shopping after her bank account went overdrawn when three council tax payments were taken in error.

The 74-year-old Trowbridge woman, who does not want to be named, found herself in an embarrassing situation at a supermarket checkout when she went to pay and realised her account was overdrawn.

She had paid her council tax on April 30, but an error in the system meant the £208 payment was taken from her bank three times, overdrawing her joint account and incurring bank charges.

When she contacted Wiltshire Council they said a refund payment would be made into the account as soon as possible. The money took a week to arrive in the account.

A Wiltshire Council spokesman said: “About a dozen Wiltshire residents were unfortunately charged more than once for their council tax due to a system problem.

“Payments were duplicated, but refunded immediately when customers informed Wiltshire Council of the error.

“This may have resulted in some customers receiving bank charges. These will be refunded as soon as possible. “We apologise for any inconvenience.”