CAMPAIGNERS from Acorn disrupted a Lambeth Council meeting to demand an end to the use of bailiffs to collect council tax. 

Members of the community union made a statement halfway through the meeting on Wednesday night at Lambeth Town Hall as part of Acorn’s national Bailiff Free Britain campaign.

The action came after Acorn wrote to council leader Claire Holland twice to ask for a meeting, the group said, but was ignored. 

“If the council wont listen to us, then we need to come to you,” the statement said, highlighting figures of debt owed and difficulties faced by vulnerable people.

“Lambeth residents… deserve support from the people who they elect to represent them. 

“Instead their council sets predatory bailiffs on them to push them further into hardship.

“It’s high time that the council served the people that it is supposed to represent.”

Acorn is also calling for an end to imprisonment for non-payment of council tax debt, a cap on the fees for liability orders, and more time for residents to address their arrears before debt collection action is taken. 

The council was approached for comment.