Retired warehouse packer Brian Depledge got such a shock when he opened his latest Council Tax bill that he had to sit down – for laughing!

The 80-year-old, who lives at Gaisby Lane in Shipley, was being charged a whopping 33p to make up for his recent pension increase of 15p a week.

Mr Depledge said the demand for an extra 33p to offset his new pension rate was “bureaucracy gone mad” and added: “I had to sit down on a chair before I collapsed with laughter. I could just imagine some minion sitting at a desk with a puzzled frown on his face, armed with a calculator to work out what I owed and coming up with just that.

“The cost of the paper, envelope and postage, not counting the council worker’s time, would be much more than the amount demanded.”

Widower Mr Depledge, who retired in the 1980s to nurse his poorly wife, said: “Why on earth didn’t they just add the 33p I owed them on to my next council tax bill instead?

“It wouldn’t break the bank, I wouldn’t have grumbled about it and surely that would have been just common sense.

“The money is due on February 15 so I just might make them wait for it. No doubt the Council will come up with some sort of excuse saying there is some kind of regulation that ties them to sending out bills like this for even miniscule amounts but in this day and age of saving costs, it’s just ludicrous.”

A spokesman at Bradford Council's Revenues and Benefits Department, said: “Council Tax is not assessed from a person's income. It is assessed from the value of their property.

“If someone gets Council Tax Benefit and their income level or other circumstances change this may affect how much they receive and therefore the amount of Council Tax they have to pay. However, we cannot comment on individual cases.”

When deciding on whether or not to send out bills, the Council does not have a cut-off point in terms of the amount, but takes a view on the cost effectiveness of collecting such a small amount on a case by case basis.