10 February 2006
Bailiffs have been called in to collect an overdue £420,000 in business rates from the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust — in Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt's constituency.
The trust owed rates on the Leicester General Hospital, Glenfield Hospital, Leicester Royal Infirmary and a pub that it had bought to expand the LRI site.
Leicester City Council said the trust had been sent reminders and a court summons since the last payment in August 2005.
Council leader Roger Blackmore said: 'We treat the trust in the same way we would treat any corner shop.'
A spokeswoman from the trust said the payment was late because of an administrative error.
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