APRIL 1 has been chosen by Teignbridge Council Executive for the district authority to stop taking over the counter cash and cheque payments at its Forde House HQ and the Forde Road offices, Newton Abbot.

It is no April Fool’s joke. From that date those payments for council tax, etc, will have to be made via the post office and Paypoint. Customers will still be able to send cheques to the council through the post, or use other payment methods such as direct debits.

The executive agreed to the move on Tuesday to save money.

Amanda Pujol, business manager for housing and health, said there were currently nearly 34,500 transactions made to the council annually using the post office and Paypoint.

It was a cheaper method of payment than cash in person and a post office was geographically convenient for customers.

Ms Pujol said the cost of a cash transaction at Forde House was estimated at £1.39 and a cheque £1.16. Currently a payment via Paypoint was 45p and at the post office 50p. A direct debit was by far the cheapest at 1p.

Yearly the council’s incoming transactions for council tax, garden waste collection, etc, amount to 612,048 representing an income of £175,724,987.

Ms Pujol told the meeting that deciding on the changes now gave the council three months to engage with customers so that the impact was minimised.

Cllr Chris Clarance asked: ‘Is it not going to cause quite a bit of aggro with people coming in here with cash in their pockets and being turned away and sent to the post office?’

The leader, Cllr Jeremy Christophers said the council had three months to let people know.

‘I think the basis of this is sound. More people go to the post office than come here once a month,’ he said.