Missing rates payment cheques a mystery noone can solve

TAPANUI

MORE than $100,000 worth of cheques meant to pay Otago Regional Council rates bills have been lost in transit.

The 354 cheques from ratepayers across the South were worth a total of $107,000.

The council wrote to ratepayers last month advising them the batch of cheques sent to the BNZ had gone missing, and asking them to resend the amount due.

Tapanui resident Richard Cook (82) said he found the missing cheques situation more intriguing the longer he thought about it.

‘‘It’s dangerous because they’re out there somewhere.’’

He wrote the cheque in September and it had taken ORC four months to tell him the cheque was missing, he said.

He had checked his account and the cheque had not been cashed.

It was ‘‘very unusual’’ for a bank to admit it had lost cheques, he said.

In the 60 years he had had a bank account he could not remember any going missing.

A council spokesman said the cheques were received and receipted and sent to BNZ’s cheque processing centre in Wellington, where they were mislaid, and as a result the payment process had not been completed.

‘‘ORC have notified all the affected ratepayers, who will need to resend their rates payment.

‘‘We regret the inconvenience to those affected, and want to emphasise that they will not face any additional costs.’’

The last day for paying rates to the council is October 30 each year.

A NZ Post spokesman said NZ Post had been working with the council and the BNZ to determine what happened.

‘‘Our investigation has shown that although NZ Post has successfully completed its part in the delivery process ready for the next courier company, it appears the cheques have been mislocated at some point after this and have not arrived at their final destination.

‘‘Investigations from all parties have not been able to locate the cheques.’’

A BNZ spokesman said the bank understood the situation could be concerning for those people who had missing cheques.

‘‘[We] want to assure them that their money is safe.

‘‘The cheques are nontransferable, meaning noone else can bank them. ‘‘

If the cheques did show up at the bank, the system would filter them out.

‘‘In the unlikely case that one of cheques in question were processed, customers would be refunded.’’

PHOTO: SANDY EGGLESTON Lost in transit . . . Tapanui resident Richard Cook holds the letter he received from the Otago Regional Council last month advising him the cheque he paid his rates with in September last year had gone missing.