Fury over bill to late brother

Emily Morrell-Cross was horrified to receive the paying-in book labelled "the late Mr Brooks" after notifying Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water of her brother's death.

She immediately rang them to complain and received a letter of apology.

But less than a month later, the company sent her a bill for £19.74 and informed her recovery action would be taken if she did not pay up within a week.

Mrs Morrell-Cross, of Rushton Crescent, said she stressed to Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water that her brother Tom had left no estate from which to settle his debts.

But she said she found several companies reluctant to accept this and she fears other grieving relatives would feel pressured to pay up, even though legally the debts can be written off.

She said: "A couple of years ago my aunt lost her husband and receiving a letter like this would have scared her to death.

She would have taken food off the table to pay her husband's bills and I know many other elderly people would do exactly the same.

"Another woman I met in the post office told me her brother-in-law had died leaving no estate and she was being hounded by companies, including Bournemouth Borough Council who were trying to get her to pay the council tax.

"I thought that was a one-off but my experience now tells me different. People need to know that if there's no estate, there's no obligation for them to pay the bills."

Tony Cooke, managing director at Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water, said they wrongly assumed Mrs Morrell-Cross was the executor of her brother's estate and advised people to make it absolutely clear if there were no funds to settle debts.

"We hold our hands up - we made a mistake and then perpetuated it," he said.

"We will be writing to Mrs Morrell-Cross following the review we've done today, confirming that we have written off the outstanding amount and apologising again for the human mistake that we made."