Son hounded for £345 by Lancashire County Council after unexpected death of his Blackpool dad
Lancashire County Council cancelled the debt when contacted by The Blackpool Lead
Hello and welcome to The Blackpool Lead.
When Kevin Winder, a Blackpool FC season ticket holder and member of staff at the M&S inside The Vic, died suddenly last year, his son Matt had significant grief to navigate.
In the middle of that, Lancashire County Council - for whom Kevin worked for over a decade - sent an invoice for £345 that would later be followed up by a debt collection agency.
It was only when The Blackpool Lead made contact that the debt was dropped.
Blackpool briefing
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Lancashire Constabulary were also made aware of the incident, which was posted openly on social media.
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Son hounded for £345 by Lancashire County Council after unexpected death of his Blackpool dad
By Michael Holmes
A grieving son was hounded for £345 after the death of his father - by the county council where he spent more than a decade labouring.
Kevin Winder, 62, and living in South Shore, died from a heart attack mid-August last year and, just weeks later, his son Matt received a demand from Lancashire County Council for pension money that had been paid for the rest of the month.
The debt was later passed to bailiffs, leaving Matt, 26, furious that officials were chasing what he called a “nominal amount” from an estate with no real assets while he and his loved ones were still coming to terms with their sudden loss.
“There’s been no ounce of sympathy from them,” Matt said. “My dad gave them 10-plus years of physical labour and the first thing they send me is an invoice.”
After being contacted by The Blackpool Lead, the authority apologised and said it would cancel the debt.
“We understand that dealing with financial matters after the death of a loved one can be a difficult experience, and we always aim to communicate with sensitivity and respect,” a spokesperson said.
Kevin, of Kimberley Avenue in South Shore, left the county council in the late 1990s after working his way up to head groundskeeper over the course of 10 to 15 years, Matt said.
When neck problems began to make manual work too painful, Kevin moved into IT.
After getting a degree, he was employed in data analytics at the Department for Work and Pensions at Peel Park before retiring in 2024 and taking a part-time role at Marks & Spencer at Blackpool Victoria Hospital.
He was in his local pub, the Farmer’s Arms in Lytham Road, when he collapsed and died last summer.
Matt, who lives with his mother in Fleetwood, said: “He took a sip of his pint and just slumped to the side.”
