THURROCK Council's chief executive Angie Ridgwell has admitted to errors that have led to 1,299 people being issued with postal votes that they did not request.

However, she has stressed that no-one in the borough has been deprived of a vote in Thursday's elections and stringent checks are in place to make sure that no-one can vote twice.

"The error was first flagged up by a BNP election agent and quickly followed by a number of other complaints," the chief executive, who is planning her first election as returning officer, told the Gazette.

Initially a council statement intended to clarify the situation led to confusion as it implied the error was on the part of postal vote recipients.

The problem arose because postal voters from last year's elections who should have been taken off a list used to address the voting packs for this year had remained on it by mistake.

The council say that work has taken place to identify those voters and they have been written to, to advise them that they cannot use their voting pack but must use the poll card they have been issued with or, if they have received two postal votes, to only use one.

It has been stressed by the council that all postal votes received are being thoroughly checked, one by one, and any duplications identified.

Where it is found that voters have returned the postal vote sent to them in error or duplications are found a letter will be hand-delivered to that resident advising them how to make a single, valid vote on Thursday, using their poll card.

A council spokesperson added: "This will ensure the integrity of the postal voting element of the election. Once alerted, the Council immediately began work to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, through robust and comprehensive action.

"Last week letters were sent to everyone whose name should have been removed from the original list to let them know the pack they received was not valid and advising them to use their poll card on May 3. A request was also made asking for packs to be returned to the Council."

A help line is available for anyone with any queries. The number is 01375652816.

In addition the council have posted a Questions and Answers section about postal votes on their website.