An Oxford city councillor received a television licence reminder telling her she could go to prison -- 10 months after it was posted.

Mary Clarkson, pictured, was shocked because she had transferred her television licence from her old house to her new home in Dunstan Road, Headington, when she moved in January.

The letter, addressed to "The Occupier" fell through her letterbox last Wednesday..

Mrs Clarkson said: "It was a notice telling me the licence detector vans were coming to the area, stating 'you haven't paid your licence and you can be imprisoned.

"I rang them and said we had a licence and they said a letter was sent to this address in October 2003, before we moved in.

"They said they had experienced problems with the area's postal service. Whether the Royal Mail is to blame or not I don't know and there was no date on the letter.

"I think it is quite impressive that a letter like that could have been posted in October and only reached the house this week.

"I've sorted it out and they are not going to send me to prison, but what if it had been a little old lady? It was an intimidating letter."

Jane Beese, Royal Mail spokesman, said: "I don't think we are going to be able to know what's happened for sure.

"There is no evidence to suggest this letter has been in our system for 10 months. We handle millions of television licensing letters and offer an efficient and reliable service."

A Television Licensing spokesman said: "We are confident that the customer was sent an inquiry letter in October 2003.

"We only send out currently dated letters. We send out millions of letters each year and haven't heard of any other problems in this area."

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