Grieving family members were left distressed after Barnet Council sent “threatening” billing letters to their mum following her death.

Dr Serab Ozdural slammed the council after bills for home care visits were addressed to her mother, Naile Ozdural, warning of legal action unless they were paid.

Dr Ozdural says she used an online “tell us once” facility to inform the council that her mum, who lived in Hendon, had passed away in December at the age of 90.

But despite doing so, she said at least three letters were subsequently sent out to her mother demanding payments.

Dr Ozdural, who grew up in Hendon but now lives in Nottingham, said she and her brother had been left “very distressed” by the letters.

She said: “My mother died on December 27. We have had bills since she died.

“They know she died, because they have adjusted her council tax. They know there is no-one there, yet they still sent a bill to my mum saying if she did not pay, then she could face a county court judgement.

“I had rung previously, saying ‘you are charging for when she was not alive’.”

Dr Ozdural said the council sent out a bill last April, then no bills for seven months – until it finally sent one out for several thousand pounds.

“The whole thing is abysmal, really,” she said. “One side of the council knows my mother is dead, and the other side does not.

“They don’t seem to understand how probate works. These bills should be stalled until after all the estate is sorted out.

“They have no right to demand the money in the way they are – and certainly not the kind of letters they have written.”

Dr Ozdural said she had emailed the council about the situation but had not had any apology for the letters that were sent to her mother.

A Barnet Council spokesperson said: “We apologise to Dr Ozdural and her brother for the upset caused by letters mistakenly sent to their mother after her death.

“We will contact Dr Ozdural and her brother directly to give a full explanation and assure them that this will not happen again.”