A furious dad was forced to phone a tax hotline more than 1,000 times after a benefits blunder turned his wife into a mystery man
Richard Ford is livid after hanging on the telephone for hours trying to sort out his family's child tax credit.
He filled out the forms on the internet.
Fed up and furious - Richard Ford, who was forced to phone the tax hotline more than 1,000 times to talk to someone about the mistake Picture: NIGEL BROWN
But when the paperwork came back six months later, wife Christine's details had disappeared.
Instead the bungling taxman claimed Richard, 31, lives with a man he's never heard of called Alistair. It even gave the man's national insurance number and wage details.
"My wife doesn't exist according to their paperwork," said Richard.
"Apparently, I live with another man and my two kids Olivia and Matthew.
"I've got nothing against two blokes living together! But this man earns ten times more than my wife and they are basing our tax credit on his wages."
Richard called an Inland Revenue hotline to try to sort out the mess.
"I've probably phoned more than a thousand times in the last three weeks," said Richard, of Gavin Way, Colchester.
An Inland Revenue spokesman said they were unable to discuss individual cases but would contact the family to try sort out the mistake.
She said the phone line problems were a "temporary glitch".
An extra 700 people have been drafted in to answer calls.
Published Wednesday, May 28, 2003
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