A COUNCILLOR who was summonsed to court for not paying his council tax said he made an honest mistake.

Reading Borough Cllr Emmett McKenna, Labour, was ordered to appear at Reading Magistrates' Court after the authority’s discovered he had not paid his tax.

Mr McKenna stated he had no idea he needed to pay council tax after he moved in to a new home in Boult Walk, Reading.

The Whitley Ward representative told the Chronicle: “The story is I moved in to a new house.

“I had never paid council tax before.

“I was not on top of my admin.”

Cllr McKenna was ordered to appear at court to explain himself but he paid the bill off before the case went ahead.

He had previously lived in a house of multiple occupation (HMO) in Basingstoke Road, Whitley, where he did not need to pay council tax.

He continued: “As soon as I was informed of it, I happened to be off work the next day, I went in and paid my bill in full which included the arrears up to cover me up until April (2016).

“I sat down and set myself up a direct debit to make sure I would never be in that situation again.”